Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
How to Make Maple Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Add enough water to the sugar to prevent scorching.
Bring the mixture to a good boil.
Break in one or two eggs, depending on the quantity of sugar used.
For every half gallon of sugar, add one pint of fresh milk.
Clarify and strain
Skim the mixture well and strain through flannel.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Sugar
- Provides the sweetness and bulk that becomes the finished syrup.
- Eggs
- Their proteins coagulate when heated, trapping impurities so they can be skimmed off.
- Fresh milk
- Its proteins also coagulate with heat, helping gather impurities into a scum that can be removed.
The step that matters
Skim the mixture well. As the egg and milk proteins coagulate, they carry impurities to the surface as scum. Removing all of it before straining keeps the syrup clear; anything left behind can cloud or spoil the finished product.
“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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