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 ↓
Cooked Icing
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and cornstarch.
Add the cold water and stir well.
Boil the mixture for two minutes.
While hot, pour the mixture over the stiffly beaten egg white.
Beat until the icing is perfectly smooth and white.
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
- Egg white
- Whipped to stiff foam, it gives the icing its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the cooked syrup, providing sweetness and body to the icing.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the cooked mixture so the icing holds its shape when spread.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot mixture over the egg white. The syrup must be hot so it cooks the egg white slightly and sets the foam. Pouring it while it is still hot and beating well keeps the icing smooth and glossy instead of grainy or runny.
“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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