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Drink

A Preparation for the Sick

A medicinal drink made from egg white, sugar, water, ice, peppermint, and mint.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Mint and tea work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 71 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

A Preparation for the Sick

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Whisk the white of one egg with three teaspoons of sugar.

  2. Add half a glass of water and half a teacupful of cracked ice.

  3. Add a few drops of peppermint or a sprig of fresh mint.

  4. Pour the ingredients from one tumbler into another, stirring until thoroughly mixed.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

127Calories
6 gProtein
5 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. See the original page.

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.

  1. Mint + teatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together71 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Tea + sugartop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,204 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Egg + teatop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together821 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Mint + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg white
Whisking traps air in the white, giving the drink a light, frothy body.
Sugar
Sweetens the drink and helps stabilise the whisked egg white foam.
Fresh mint
Adds a fresh peppermint aroma and flavour.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, tea, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, tea, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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