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Angel Food

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Vanilla and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,241 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Angel Food

Ingredients

Directions

  1. One caip of flour; 11/4 cai|)s of granulated sugar; whites of 11 eggs; 1 teaspoon of vanilla; 1 teaspoon of cream tartar. Sift the flour 4 times, then measure it and add the cream tartar and sift 4 times more. Sift sugar 3 times. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff, dry froth, and add the sugar, a little at a time, and then the flour and the vanilla. Do not butter the pan or oil the paper laid on the bottom. When done turn the cake upside down, place the pan bottom upwards and lay the cake upon it. Frost the bottom of the calvo. Minnie S. Willis.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

596Calories
20 gProtein
12 gFat
96 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12

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

By Ithaca (N.Y.) First Baptist Church. Ladies Union. 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. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Vanilla + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Vanilla and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the vanilla

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillathe original
  3. Avocadofits less well
  4. Raspberryfits less well

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

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