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 ↓
Egg Flip
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg and sugar together until stiff and light.
Pour the hot beer into the egg mixture, stirring briskly to prevent curdling.
Pour the mixture from one bowl to another to make it foamy and light.
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.
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + beertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together699 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Egg + beertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together464 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg
- Its proteins whip and set around the beer, giving the drink body and a light, foamy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the drink and helps the beaten egg hold its structure while whipping.
- Beer
- Supplies the liquid and flavour, and its carbonation adds lightness to the foam.
The step that matters
Adding the hot beer. Pouring the beer in too fast or while it is boiling can scramble the egg proteins, causing curdling. Adding it hot but not boiling, while stirring briskly, lets the egg mixture warm and thicken smoothly instead of cooking into lumps.
“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.
You might also like
Spruce Beer58 recipes
Ginger Beer11 recipes
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.