Name: Floating Island
Ingredients: 4 egg yolks; ½ cup powdered sugar; 1/4 ounce chocolate (optional)

Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Floating Island

Ingredients

4 egg yolks
½ cup powdered sugar
1/4 ounce chocolate (optional)

Directions

Cook the egg yolks in a double boiler until thickened.
Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the powdered sugar to the egg whites to make a meringue.
Drop large spoonfuls of the meringue onto the cooled custard.
For chocolate custard, stir in the chocolate before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,448 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).