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 ↓
Seafoam Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil sugar and hot water until it forms threads.
Whip and set
Pour the syrup over the beaten egg white.
Beat the mixture for 15 minutes.
Add flavoring of your choice.
Drop spoonfuls onto buttered paper to set.
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 syrup that sets into a crisp, sweet candy structure.
- Egg white
- Beaten to foam, it traps air that gives the candy its light, airy texture.
The step that matters
Pouring the syrup over the egg white. The syrup must be hot and at the thread stage, and it should be poured in a thin stream while beating. This lets it cook the egg white gently and keeps the foam from collapsing.
“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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