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 ↓
Soda Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Dissolve the sugar and tartaric acid in hot water.
Let the mixture cool, then add the beaten egg whites and stir well.
Bottle the syrup for use.
Serve
To serve, mix 2 large spoons of syrup in a glass of cold water.
Stir in ¼ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.
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.
-
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
- White sugar
- Provides sweetness and the body of the syrup.
- Tartaric acid
- Adds acidity that reacts with bicarbonate of soda to produce fizz.
- Egg whites
- Add foam and body to the syrup as they are stirred in.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Reacts with the acid to release carbon dioxide, creating the fizzing effect.
The step that matters
Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Bicarbonate of soda reacts immediately with the acid in the syrup, releasing carbon dioxide bubbles. Adding it too early, before serving, would lose most of the fizz, so it should be added to the glass just before drinking.
“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.
You might also like
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes
Blackberry Cordial129 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.