Why it works: Egg and sugar 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 ↓
Artificial Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg with some powdered lump sugar.
Gradually dilute the mixture with warm water.
Pass the mixture through a hair sieve.
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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Egg + sugartop 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
- Egg
- Its proteins and emulsifying yolk give the mixture body and a creamy, smooth texture.
- Powdered lump sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the beaten egg hold together as it is thinned.
The step that matters
Gradually dilute the mixture with warm water. Adding the water slowly lets the egg and sugar blend into a smooth emulsion rather than splitting or clumping. Pouring it in all at once can curdle the mixture and leave it thin and grainy.
“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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