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 ↓
To Clarify Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sugar
Break up the sugar in a stewpan.
Beat the egg and shell together in a pan, then mix the beaten egg and shell with some water.
Pour the mixture over the sugar.
Cook and clarify
Set the stewpan over the fire and stir until it boils.
Carefully remove the scum from the top.
Add a drop of cold water if it threatens to boil over.
Beat the egg white until frothy, then mix the frothy egg white with a little cold water.
Pour the mixture into the sugar.
Once boiled and clear, remove from heat.
Strain through a jelly bag or silk sieve into a large basin.
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
- Forms the syrup that is clarified; its sweetness and bulk are the dish itself.
- Egg
- Its shell and white bind impurities so they rise as scum that can be removed.
- Egg white
- Coagulates when heated, trapping particles and clouding material so the syrup clears.
The step that matters
Stirring until it boils, then removing the scum. Egg white and shell must coagulate and rise with impurities as the syrup heats. Stirring keeps them from sticking to the base, and removing the scum before it breaks back in leaves a clear syrup. Too much cold water can stop the boil that sets the scum.
“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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