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 ↓
Meringues
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the meringue
Whisk the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Stir in the pounded sugar quickly with a wooden spoon.
Prepare boards to prevent the meringues from browning too much.
Cut strips of paper about 2 inches wide and place them on the boards.
Shape and bake
Drop a tablespoonful of the mixture onto the paper, shaping it like an egg and spacing them 2 inches apart.
Sprinkle sifted sugar over the meringues.
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven as soon as they begin to color.
Gently turn the paper onto the table and remove the soft part of each meringue with a small spoon.
Turn the meringues upside down on clean paper and return to the oven to harden and brown the other side.
Fill and serve
Fill with whipped cream flavored with liqueur or vanilla and sweetened with pounded sugar.
Join two meringues together and pile them high in a dish.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff froth, they form the airy structure that holds the meringue together.
- Pounded sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and, dissolved into the foam, helps stabilize it and give it a crisp texture.
The step that matters
Removing the soft centre before the second bake. Meringue baked only until it colors can stay soft and sticky inside. Removing the soft part and returning the shells to the oven dries them out so they harden and brown evenly on both sides.
“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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