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 Mash
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Drain the juice from the crushed strawberries.
Add the powdered sugar to the strawberries and mix thoroughly.
Add the egg whites without beating them.
Finish and store
In a mixer, beat the mixture to a heavy paste until it becomes stiff.
Store in a cool place.
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
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and stiffens it into a thick paste with the fruit.
- Crushed strawberries
- Supply the main fruit flavor and moisture for the paste.
- Egg whites
- Add body and help the mixture set firm as it is beaten.
The step that matters
Beating to a heavy paste. Beating must continue until the mixture is stiff and heavy; underbeaten mash stays loose and runny, so it will not hold its shape.
“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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