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 ↓
Boiled Icings
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Boil sugar and water until almost ready to thread from a spoon.
Do not stir while boiling.
Have the beaten egg white ready.
Slowly stir the boiling mixture into the egg white.
Add flavoring.
Spread
If it hardens too quickly while spreading, keep the knife in hot water.
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
- Sugar
- Forms the sweet syrup that sets into a smooth, glossy icing as it cools.
- Egg white
- Adds protein that whips with the hot syrup to give the icing body and a light, fluffy texture.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can boil into a syrup at a controlled concentration.
The step that matters
Slowly stir the boiling mixture into the egg white. Pouring hot syrup in slowly lets the egg white cook gently and whip evenly. Adding it too fast can scramble the egg white or leave the icing lumpy and uneven.
“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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