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 ↓
To Clarify Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine egg white and water in a preserving pan and whisk to mix.
Add the broken lump sugar and set over a charcoal fire to boil.
Boil for 1-2 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises.
Strain and finish
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve and set aside for use.
Ensure the pan is large enough to prevent boiling over.
Do not stir after the sugar has melted.
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
- Lump sugar
- Dissolves in the water to form the syrup that is being clarified.
- Egg white
- Coagulates when heated, trapping impurities so they rise and can be skimmed off.
The step that matters
Do not stir after the sugar has melted. Stirring breaks up the coagulated egg white that forms a raft trapping impurities, and can mix them back into the syrup. Stirring can also encourage sugar crystals to form, leaving the syrup cloudy.
“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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