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 ↓
North Pole Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the threads
Beat the egg yolks in a small pan with a spoon.
Pour in the maraschino and stir until it becomes creamy.
Boil the clarified sugar until it reaches a blow.
Use a funnel to pour the mixture into the boiling sugar, allowing it to run all over the syrup.
Remove the pan from the heat and use a fork to take out the threads.
Shape and dry
Place the threads on a grating in small heaps, about the size of a half crown, shaped like rocks.
Dry the threads in a stove for several hours, then candy them as previously described.
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 yolks
- Their proteins set and bind the threads, giving body and richness to the candy.
- Maraschino
- Adds liquid and a distinct cherry-like aroma to the mixture.
- Clarified sugar
- Boiled to a set stage, it forms the sweet syrup that the threads are drawn into and hold their shape from.
The step that matters
Pouring the mixture into the boiling sugar. Sugar syrup must be at the right stage for the mixture to form fine threads as it hits the syrup. If the syrup is too cool or too hot, the threads may not hold their shape or may turn brittle or sticky.
“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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