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 ↓
Jviaple Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the sugar and water together until it spins a thread.
Pour this over the beaten egg white, stirring constantly.
Return to a double boiler and cook until slightly dry around the edges, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and beat until thick.
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
- Provides the sweetness and maple flavor, and dissolves into the syrup that sets the frosting.
- Egg white
- Whips into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot syrup over the egg white. The syrup must be poured slowly while stirring constantly so it cooks the egg white gently without scrambling it. Pouring too fast or without stirring can curdle the egg and leave lumps, so the frosting stays smooth and glossy.
“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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