Why it works: Egg and sugar 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 ↓
French Cream No. 1
Ingredients
Directions
Whip and flavor
Beat the egg white to a stiff froth.
Add cold water and a small quantity of vanilla extract.
Make the paste
Gradually sift in confectioner's sugar, stirring until smooth.
Transfer the mixture to a sugared kneading board.
Knead the mixture, adding more sugar until it forms a smooth, firm paste.
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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Egg + sugartop 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 white
- Whipped into a foam that gives the mixture its light, airy structure.
- Confectioner's sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and stiffens it into a firm paste as it is worked in.
- Cold water
- Adds moisture so the sugar can be blended smoothly into the egg white.
The step that matters
Beat the egg white to a stiff froth. Egg white proteins trap air only when beaten enough to hold stiff peaks. An under-whipped white collapses when sugar and water are added, leaving the paste dense and less stable.
“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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