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 ↓
Uncooked French Cream Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
In a bowl, mix the egg white, cold water, and flavoring.
Gradually add confectioners' sugar until a stiff paste forms.
Test the paste by molding a piece in your hand; if no water appears, it has enough sugar.
To color, add a small amount of food coloring to the paste before it becomes stiff.
Shape
Roll a piece of the paste on a glass or marble surface into a stick about 1 inch in diameter.
Cut the stick into small pieces as desired.
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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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 white
- Binds the sugar into a cohesive, pliable paste that holds its shape.
- Confectioners' sugar
- Provides sweetness and bulk, stiffening the liquid into a moldable paste.
- Cold water
- Moistens the sugar so it dissolves and forms a workable dough.
The step that matters
Testing the sugar addition. Adding sugar gradually and testing by molding helps avoid a paste that is too wet or too dry. Too little sugar leaves moisture that makes it sticky and hard to shape, while too much makes it brittle and crumbly.
“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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