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 ↓
To Clarify Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the sugar and water in a large pot.
Add the beaten egg white to the mixture.
Boil for 10 minutes, skimming off any scum that forms on the surface.
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
- Forms the syrup that makes up the bulk of the mixture.
- Egg white
- Coagulates as it heats, trapping impurities so they can be skimmed off.
The step that matters
Skimming the scum while boiling. Impurities rise to the surface as the mixture heats. As the egg white cooks, it coagulates and carries these particles up into a scum layer. Removing it promptly keeps the syrup clear and prevents off-flavours from returning into the liquid.
“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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