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 ↓
Pastry Icing
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the icing
Whip the egg whites to a firm froth.
Gently stir in the castor sugar.
Bake
Spread the mixture over the pastry.
Place in a cool oven (300°F / 150°C) to set.
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 whites
- Whipped into a foam that gives the icing its light, airy structure.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the icing and stabilizes the whipped egg white foam as it sets.
The step that matters
Gently stir in the castor sugar. Overmixing collapses the whipped egg white foam, so the icing loses its volume and becomes dense. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles intact so the icing stays light as it sets in the oven.
“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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