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 ↓
Icing Pastry
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the first sugar layer
Remove the pastry from the oven when it is nearly baked.
Sift finely powdered sugar over the pastry.
Return the pastry to the oven and use a hot salamander or shovel to melt the sugar.
Add the egg white and sugar topping
Beat the egg whites until well combined.
Brush the tops of the pastry with the egg whites.
Sift a good coating of sugar over the pastry.
Dampen a clean brush with water.
Gently press the damp brush over the sugar until it is moistened.
Bake again
Bake again for about 10 minutes.
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
What each ingredient does
- Finely powdered sugar
- Melts into a glossy, crisp, sweet layer on the pastry surface.
- Egg whites
- Set when heated, forming a glossy, firm coating that holds the sugar in place.
The step that matters
Melting the sugar with the salamander or shovel. Sugar melts and then browns quickly under intense heat. Too little heat leaves it grainy, while too much scorches it before an even, glassy layer forms, so move the heat steadily and watch closely.
“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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