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 ↓
Kentucky Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the sugar and water for 6 minutes until it threads when dropped from a spoon.
While the sugar boils, beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Combine and beat
Slowly pour the boiling syrup into the egg whites while beating vigorously.
Continue beating until the icing is thick enough to spread over a cake.
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
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the icing and gives it bulk once boiled into a syrup.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff froth, they trap air and give the icing a light, fluffy structure.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling syrup into the egg whites. Pour the hot syrup slowly while beating constantly. Adding it too fast or without enough beating can streak or partly cook the whites, while a steady stream whips evenly into a smooth, stable icing.
“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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