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Dessert

Meringue, or French Kisses

A dessert of meringue cakes topped with a sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Meringue, or French Kisses

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the meringue

  1. Whisk the egg whites to a froth.

  2. Slowly sift in the sugar while whisking until stiff froth forms.

  3. Butter a sheet of white paper.

  4. Pour the mixture onto the paper using a spoon.

  5. Dust each cake with fine sugar.

  6. Place the cakes in a 300°F (150°C) oven for about 10 minutes until brown.

  7. Remove the cakes from the oven.

  8. Place each cake upside down on a tin sheet using a flexible knife.

  9. Scoop out part of the inside of each cake.

  10. Dust the scooped area with fine sugar.

Make the cream

  1. Beat the yolks with 1 cup of milk to prepare the cream.

  2. In a saucepan, mix 1 cup of milk, 5 ounces of sugar, and cornstarch.

  3. Heat the mixture on a slow fire.

  4. Stir until it thickens.

  5. Add the beaten egg whites mixed with 2 ounces of sugar.

  6. Stir for 2 more minutes.

  7. Remove from heat.

  8. Let the mixture cool.

  9. Add essence and dissolved isinglass before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 froth to create the airy structure of the meringue cakes.
Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the cream filling as they cook.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk and sugar mixture into a smooth cream.
Isinglass
Sets the cream so it holds its shape once cooled.
Fine white sugar
Sweetens the meringue and cream and helps the meringue hold its structure.

The step that matters

Sifting the sugar into the whites. Adding sugar slowly while whisking lets it dissolve and stabilise the foam; adding it too fast can deflate the whites and leave a weak, unstable meringue.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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