Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 88,465 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Beat egg whites with a little sugar until frothy.
In a saucepan, heat sweetened milk until boiling.
Drop spoonfuls of egg froth into the boiling milk and cook for a few seconds on each side.
Place cooked egg froth in a glass dish.
Strain the milk to remove bits of egg, then make a custard with the strained milk and egg yolks, flavoring as desired.
Once cold, pour the custard into the glass dish without covering the egg whites.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Egg + milktop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together88,465 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 9% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together77,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together122,252 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk share little aroma chemistry, yet 77,855 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
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