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 ↓
Foam Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Beat the yolks of the eggs until light.
Cream the yolks with the powdered sugar.
Place the bowl in boiling water and stir occasionally until warm throughout.
Finish the sauce
Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Add the boiling water just before serving.
Flavor as desired.
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.
-
Egg + sugartop 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
- Egg yolks
- Provide richness and body, and help the base thicken as it warms.
- Egg whites
- Trapped air bubbles from beating give the sauce its light, foamy texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and blends smoothly into the creamed yolks.
- Boiling water
- Warms the mixture and loosens it to a smooth, pourable sauce.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.. Whites hold air in their beaten foam, which gives the sauce its lightness. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam, so the sauce turns dense and loses its airy texture.
“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.
More foam sauce recipes
You might also like
Wine Sauce (for stewed fruit)186 recipes
Caper Sauce180 recipes
Brown Sauce141 recipes
Dutch Sauce74 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.