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 ↓
Clarified Sugar for Water Ices
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Dissolve the sugar in the water.
Beat and stir in the egg white.
Clarify and cool
Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for 10 minutes, skimming frequently.
Strain through a fine sieve and let cool before use.
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
- Sugar
- Provides the sweetness and body of the syrup that the ice is built on.
- Egg white
- Binds to impurities as it heats, so they rise and can be skimmed off, leaving a clear syrup.
The step that matters
Skimming during the boil. Impurities and coagulated egg white rise to the surface as the mixture boils. Skimming them often keeps the syrup clear; letting them fall back in leaves it cloudy and affects the finished ice.
“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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