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 ↓
Peppermint Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the powdered sugar with the egg whites until well combined.
Add the peppermint oil and beat the mixture well.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto white paper.
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).
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Sugar + pepperminttop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,082 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + pepperminttop 35% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together850 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Powdered loaf sugar
- Provides the sweet bulk and, dissolved into the egg whites, gives the drops their firm, fine-grained body.
- Egg whites
- Bind the sugar into a stiff paste and help the drops set firm and smooth as they dry.
- Peppermint oil
- Supplies the aroma and flavour that define the drops.
The step that matters
Beating the mixture well. Thorough beating dissolves the sugar fully into the egg whites and incorporates the peppermint oil evenly. Under-beaten mixture stays grainy and spreads unevenly, so the drops may not hold their shape or set smoothly.
Swap the peppermint
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Peppermintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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