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 ↓
Strawberry Sponge
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the strawberries and gelatine
Soak gelatin in ½ cup of water for 2 hours.
Wash the strawberries and mix half of the sugar with them.
Rub the strawberries through a sieve.
Make the syrup and mixture
Boil the remaining sugar and 1 cup of water for 20 minutes.
Add the soaked gelatin to the boiling syrup and remove from heat.
Stir in the strawberry puree.
Place the mixture in a pan of ice water and beat for 5 minutes.
Add the egg whites and continue beating until the mixture thickens.
Set and serve
Pour into molds and refrigerate to harden.
Serve with sugar and cream.
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
- Strawberries
- Provide the main flavour, colour and fruit puree for the sponge.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid mixture so it holds its shape when chilled.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dish and balances the tartness of the strawberries.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into the mixture to create the light, airy sponge texture.
The step that matters
Add the egg whites and beat until the mixture thickens. Egg whites trap air when beaten, giving the sponge its lightness. The mixture must be cold and partly set first, otherwise the foam collapses and the sponge turns out dense.
“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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