Why it works: Maple syrup and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,156 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Maple Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the maple syrup until it reaches a thick consistency.
Beat the egg white until stiff peaks form.
Pour the hot syrup over the beaten egg white and beat until cool.
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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Maple syrup + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Maple syrup
- Provides the sweetness and flavor, and its sugars thicken as it boils down.
- Egg white
- Whipped into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot syrup into the beaten egg white. Pour the hot syrup in a slow, steady stream while beating. Adding it too fast can deflate the foam, and the syrup must be hot enough to cook the egg white slightly as it sets into a stable frosting.
“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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