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 ↓
Caramell Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar, water, and egg in a small saucepan.
Whisk continuously over heat until it boils.
Boil for a few minutes, then strain through a fine sieve into a basin.
Boil and test
Return the mixture to the saucepan and boil briskly until it can spin.
To test, dip a spoon into the sugar and then into cold water; it should become crisp.
If using for a basket or cover, lightly oil the mold and spin the sugar about an hour before needed.
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
- Lump sugar
- Forms the bulk of the syrup and, once cooked to a high temperature, sets crisp and clear.
- Egg white
- Its proteins bind impurities that rise to the surface, which can then be strained out for a clearer syrup.
The step that matters
Testing the sugar stage. Sugar syrup changes quickly as water evaporates, so the spin and cold-water tests are the only guide to the right temperature. Overcooking turns it brown and bitter, while undercooking leaves it sticky and unable to set crisp.
“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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