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 ↓
Plain Icing
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the egg whites with a small amount of sugar.
Beat with a spoon or paddle for about 10 minutes.
Gradually add the remaining sugar in intervals until fully incorporated.
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
- Whip into a foam that holds the sugar and gives the icing its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the icing and, once dissolved into the foam, stiffens it into a smooth, spreadable texture.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites and sugar until fully incorporated. Adding sugar in small amounts lets it dissolve into the whites, so the foam stays stable and glossy. Adding it too fast can leave grainy icing or cause the foam to collapse.
“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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