Why it works: Sugar and egg 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 ↓
Meringues a LA Creme
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 200°F (93°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C).
Make the meringue
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gradually add the powdered sugar while continuing to beat until the mixture is glossy.
Bake
Pipe or spoon the meringue onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for about 1 hour or until the meringues are dry and can be easily lifted off the paper.
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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Sugar + eggtop 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 a foam that traps air, giving the meringue its structure as it sets.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the whipped whites, stabilising the foam and adding sweetness and gloss.
The step that matters
Adding the powdered sugar gradually while beating. Adding sugar slowly lets it dissolve fully into the egg white foam. Undissolved sugar can leave the meringue weeping or gritty, and the foam can collapse if sugar is added too fast or too early.
“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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