Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Egg Snow Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare a small basin by coating it with caramel.
Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Place the whipped egg whites into the prepared basin, filling it halfway.
Cover the top of the basin with a piece of paper.
Steam
Place the basin in a large pan filled with hot water, ensuring the water does not boil.
Cover the pan and keep the water very hot for 45 minutes.
Serve
Turn out the pudding onto a dish and pour the caramel syrup around it.
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 + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam that gives the pudding its light, airy structure as heat sets it.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilize the whipped egg white foam.
The step that matters
Keep the water hot but not boiling. Gentle steam cooks the whipped egg whites evenly and sets them smoothly. Boiling water or overly harsh heat can make the foam puff too fast, crack, or turn rubbery and watery.
“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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