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 ↓
Ordinary Meringues
Ingredients
Directions
Whisk the egg whites in a copper bowl until very stiff and frothy.
Gradually mix in the sugar, incorporating it lightly but thoroughly with a spoon.
Cut sheets of sturdy paper into 2-inch wide strips.
Using a tablespoon, scoop nearly full of the mixture and drop it onto the end of a paper strip, shaping it like an egg.
Fill the strip with meringues, keeping them 1 inch apart.
Dredge sifted sugar over the meringues.
After 3 minutes, shake off excess sugar and place the strips on a wet board.
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
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