Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Frosting I
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg to a stiff froth.
Boil the sugar and water until it "hairs" when the spoon is lifted or forms a soft ball in cold water.
Pour the hot sugar mixture slowly over the beaten egg while continuously beating.
Continue to beat until the mixture is cold.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg
- Beaten to a stiff froth, its trapped air and proteins give the frosting its light, airy structure.
- Granulated sugar
- Dissolved in water and boiled to a syrup that sets and sweetens the frosting as it cools.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot syrup into the egg. The syrup must be poured slowly while beating constantly. Pouring too fast can cook the egg in streaks or deflate the foam, so the frosting stays smooth and airy.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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