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 ↓
Sugar Puffs
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the mixture
Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
In a marble mortar, combine the egg whites with enough double-refined sugar to make a thick mixture.
Rub the mixture well around the mortar and add a few caraway seeds.
Shape and bake
Spread the mixture on a wafer sheet, making it as broad as a sixpence and as high as possible.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes until they look white.
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 stiff peaks, they trap air and set into the light, crisp structure of the puffs.
- Double-refined sugar
- Sweetens the puffs and stiffens the whipped whites, helping them hold their shape while baking.
- Caraway seeds
- Add a warm, aromatic flavour to the puffs.
The step that matters
Spreading the mixture on the wafer. Spread it as high as possible, as the record directs, because a tall mound of whipped egg white holds more trapped air and bakes into a puffier, lighter result than a flattened layer.
“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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