Name: Varnish for Gum Paste
Ingredients: ¾ pound gum arabic; 6 egg whites; ¾ pound fine sugar; 1 glass spirits of wine

Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Varnish for Gum Paste

Ingredients

¾ pound gum arabic
6 egg whites
¾ pound fine sugar
1 glass spirits of wine

Directions

Dissolve the gum arabic in warm water.
Beat the egg whites and strain them to remove oil.
Mix the strained egg whites with the dissolved gum.
Clarify the sugar and boil it until it reaches a blow stage.
Remove from heat and stir in the spirits of wine.
Allow to cool, then mix everything together and bottle for use.
If too thick, add a little spirits of wine.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + spirittop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together9,581 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Egg + winetop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,918 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).