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 ↓
Water-ices
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil together sugar, water, and beaten egg white for 10 minutes.
Strain the syrup.
Let it cool.
Finish the ice
Mix the cooled syrup with fruit juice.
When the mixture is half frozen, add the beaten egg white and mix well.
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
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice softer and less rock-hard.
- Egg white
- Whipped foam traps air, giving the frozen mixture a lighter, smoother texture.
- Fruit juice
- Provides the main flavor and a fresh acidity that balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Add the beaten egg white when the mixture is half frozen. A partly frozen base is thick enough to hold the air from the beaten whites, giving a light texture. If it is fully frozen, the whites will not blend in; if it is still liquid, the foam will 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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