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 ↓
Maple Sugar Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, combine maple sugar and water.
Cook over medium heat until it reaches a thick syrup consistency.
Pour the hot syrup over the beaten egg white.
Beat the mixture until it cools.
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
- Maple sugar
- Sweetens and flavors the frosting, and cooks into a syrup that sets the frosting as it cools.
- Egg white
- Whipped into a foam that traps air, giving the frosting a light, fluffy texture.
The step that matters
Pour the hot syrup over the beaten egg white. The syrup must be hot and poured in a thin stream while beating. This partly cooks the egg white and builds a stable, glossy foam that holds its shape as it cools.
“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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