Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Egg Nog
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the parts
Beat the egg white until stiff.
Add the cream and flavoring to the egg white and mix gently.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolk, then add the sugar and salt.
Combine
Combine all mixtures together and stir well.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
What each ingredient does
- Egg
- The whipped white adds lightness and the yolk adds richness and body.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, moist texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the egg and cream.
The step that matters
Beat the egg white until stiff. Whipped egg white traps air and gives the eggnog its lightness. If underbeaten, the foam stays runny and deflates; if overbeaten, it turns grainy and collapses when folded into the cream.
“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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