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 ↓
Strawberry Meringues
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Pour the juice of strawberries over 1 pound of fine pulverized loaf sugar until it is fully colored.
Beat the whites of 4 eggs until stiff.
Gently fold the colored sugar into the beaten egg whites along with an additional ⅛ pound of sugar.
Bake and finish
Bake or dry the mixture in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Once done, lift the meringues from the paper using a knife.
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
- Fine pulverized loaf sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and helps stabilize the whipped egg white foam.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that gives the meringue its airy structure.
- Strawberry juice
- Colors the sugar and adds fruity flavor to the meringue.
The step that matters
Folding the sugar into the beaten whites. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped whites. Overmixing deflates the foam, so the meringue bakes up dense and flat instead of light and crisp.
“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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