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 ↓
To Clarify Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Break the sugar into large lumps and place it in a clean preserving pan.
Measure 3 quarts of water for 6 pounds of sugar.
Beat the egg white lightly and mix it with the water.
Pour the egg mixture over the sugar and let it stand until nearly dissolved.
Stir the mixture thoroughly.
Clarify the syrup
Place the mixture over a gentle fire.
Do not disturb the mixture after scum begins to form.
Let it boil for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Skim off the scum after a couple of minutes.
Return to heat.
Add a little reserved cold water when it begins to boil.
Repeat skimming until the syrup is clear.
Strain through muslin or a thin cloth.
Transfer to a clean pan for further boiling.
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
- Egg white
- Its proteins coagulate when heated, trapping impurities so they rise as scum that can be skimmed off.
- Sugar
- Forms the syrup itself; dissolving it in water creates the sweet base being clarified.
The step that matters
Do not disturb the mixture after scum begins to form. Stirring or jostling the pan once the coagulated egg white has formed scum breaks it up and mixes impurities back into the syrup, leaving it cloudy. Letting it rise undisturbed lets the scum collect so it can be skimmed off cleanly.
“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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