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 ↓
Making Syrups
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a close vessel, heat 1 pint of water gently.
Gradually add 29 oz of powdered sugar, stirring frequently until dissolved.
Set aside the solution for 24 hours, then remove any scum.
Pour off the syrup, leaving any sediment behind.
Variations
For a different syrup, dissolve 2½ lb of sugar in 1 pint of water with heat, removing any scum and straining while hot.
For another variation, beat 2 egg whites with sufficient water, then mix with 600 parts sugar and 1,000 parts water in a copper vessel.
Heat gently, stirring until dissolved, ensuring it doesn't boil.
When it froths, reduce heat and gradually add the egg white mixture, removing scum as needed until the desired consistency is reached.
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
- Dissolves in the water to form the sweet body of the syrup.
- Egg whites
- Coagulate when heated and collect impurities, which are then skimmed off as scum.
The step that matters
Heating the egg white mixture without boiling. Egg whites set when heated and rise as a froth. Keeping the heat gentle lets the coagulated whites gather impurities for skimming, while a rolling boil could cause the mixture to boil over or stop the clearing process.
“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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