Name: Brandy and Egg Mixture
Ingredients: 2 egg yolks; ½ ounce refined sugar; 4 ounces cognac; 4 ounces cinnamon water

Why it works: Sugar and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Brandy and Egg Mixture

Ingredients

2 egg yolks
½ ounce refined sugar
4 ounces cognac
4 ounces cinnamon water

Directions

In a bowl, rub together the egg yolks and refined sugar until well combined.
Add the cognac and cinnamon water, and mix thoroughly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + cinnamontop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,058 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks: Provide richness and emulsifying power that helps bind the liquids into a smooth mixture.
Refined sugar: Adds sweetness and helps break down the yolks while they are rubbed together.
Cognac: Contributes alcohol flavor and aroma to the mixture.

“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.