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 ↓
Boiled Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil sugar and water until it forms a soft ball in cold water.
Finish the frosting
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
Remove syrup from heat and add beaten egg whites.
Stir constantly until well mixed.
Use immediately.
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.
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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
- Provides sweetness and, once boiled into syrup, the structure that sets the frosting.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the frosting its light, airy texture.
The step that matters
Add the beaten egg whites to the hot syrup. The syrup must be hot enough to cook the egg whites slightly and stabilize the foam. Stirring constantly keeps the mixture smooth and prevents the syrup from setting unevenly before it is fully combined.
“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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