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
Make the syrup
Dissolve the sugar in warm water, using ½ pint for every pound.
Add the whipped egg whites to the dissolved sugar.
Heat the mixture until it comes to a boil.
Pour in the cold water when boiling.
Clarify and pour off
Remove from heat when it boils again and let it settle for 20 minutes.
Skim the scum from the top.
Pour off the syrup into a clean vessel, leaving the sediment at the bottom.
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).
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Sugar + teatop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,204 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + teatop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together821 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fine white loaf sugar
- Forms the syrup that is clarified; it is the sweetness and body of the finished liquid.
- Egg whites
- Coagulate when heated and trap impurities, which rise as scum that can be skimmed away.
The step that matters
Skimming the scum after the second boil. Egg white must be whipped and fully heated so it coagulates and carries impurities to the surface. Skimming before it has settled leaves cloudiness; letting it settle undisturbed lets the sediment fall so the clear syrup can be poured off.
“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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