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 ↓
Boiled Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Combine the sugar and hot water in a saucepan.
Boil the mixture briskly for 5 minutes, or until it jingles when dropped in cold water.
While beating the egg whites, pour the boiling syrup over them.
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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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
- Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
- Granulated sugar
- Boiled into a syrup that sets the frosting and makes it glossy and sweet.
The step that matters
Boiling the sugar syrup briskly. The syrup must reach the right concentration to set. Boiling it until it jingles in cold water indicates the sugar has cooked enough. Pouring it into the beaten whites while beating keeps the foam from collapsing and cooks the egg whites slightly.
“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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