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 ↓
Icijvg Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the crust
Bake the pie crust until golden.
Spread the crust with your choice of jelly.
Make the icing
In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add the sifted sugar and a little tartaric acid, mixing until smooth.
Bake and finish
Fill the pie with the icing mixture.
Place in a 400°F (200°C) oven until slightly browned.
Drop additional icing on top for decoration.
Let it dry; it should remain white.
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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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 whites
- Whipped to stiff foam, they form the light, airy structure of the icing.
- Sifted sugar
- Sweetens the icing and stabilises the whipped egg white foam as it sets.
- Tartaric acid
- Acidity helps stabilise the whipped egg white foam and keeps the icing white.
- Jelly
- Adds fruity sweetness and a moist layer between the crust and the icing.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be whipped to stiff peaks before the sugar is added. Under-whipped whites will not hold air, so the icing stays dense and may not set light and airy in the oven.
“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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