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 Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Combine powdered sugar and a little water in a saucepan.
Boil until nearly ready to candy and can form a string when dripped from a spoon.
Remove from heat and, while still boiling hot, quickly add beaten egg whites, stirring rapidly until well combined.
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
- Powdered sugar
- Provides the sweetness and, once cooked into syrup, the body of the icing.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into the hot syrup to add structure, lightness and a smooth, fluffy texture.
The step that matters
Adding the egg whites while the syrup is still boiling hot. The hot syrup gently cooks the beaten whites and helps the icing set smooth. Once the syrup cools, the sugar can thicken and seize before the whites are fully blended in.
“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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