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 ↓
Boiled Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Boil sugar and water until it ropes when dropped from a fork.
Pour gradually over stiffly whipped egg whites while beating hard.
Add flavoring and use immediately.
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
- Granulated sugar
- Forms a syrup that, when boiled, sets into a sweet, smooth icing structure.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the icing its light, airy texture.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiled syrup into the egg whites. The syrup must be hot enough to reach the rope stage and poured slowly while beating hard, so it cooks the whites gently and blends evenly. Pouring too fast or letting the whites deflate can leave the icing runny or grainy.
“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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