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Dessert

A Simple Dessert

A meringue dessert made with whipped egg whites, powdered sugar, mashed peaches, raisins or dates, served with thick cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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A Simple Dessert

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

A Simple Dessert

Ingredients

Directions

Make the meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites into a very stiff froth.

  2. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating for at least 15 minutes.

Fold and serve

  1. Fold in the mashed peaches and the finely cut raisins or dates.

  2. Serve with thick cream.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Peach + raisintop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + peachtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Beaten into a stiff froth, they trap air and give the meringue its light, airy structure.
Powdered sugar
Added gradually while beating, it sweetens and helps stabilize the foam.
Fresh peaches
Mashed and folded in, they add fruit flavor and moisture to the meringue.
Seedless raisins or dates
Finely cut and folded in, they add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture.

The step that matters

Beating the sugar into the whites. Adding sugar gradually while beating keeps the foam stable and glossy. Adding it too fast or stopping early can leave the meringue weepy or loose, so beat until it is firm and smooth.

Swap the peach

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, raisin, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Peachthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, raisin, cream. 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.

More peach meringue recipes

Pie 12Apple and Pie 5Apple Pie 5Pudding 4Apple or Pie 3 See all 41 →

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