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Drink

Sherry and Egg

A simple drink made by mixing an egg, sugar, sherry, and cold water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Sherry and Egg

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Break the egg into a bowl and add the sugar.

  2. Beat them together until the sugar is fully mixed but the egg is not frothy.

  3. Add the sherry and cold water, mixing thoroughly.

  4. Strain the mixture into a glass and serve immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,141 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Egg + sherrytop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg
Provides protein and body, giving the drink its creamy, silky texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the sherry's dryness.
Sherry
Contributes flavour and aroma, along with a mild acidity.

The step that matters

Beat without frothing the egg. Beating only until the sugar dissolves keeps the egg smooth and unaerated. Over-beating adds air and foam, changing the drink's texture and making it look less clean.

“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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