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 ↓
Flan Russe
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the mixture
Beat the egg whites to a firm snow.
In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and preserve until well combined.
Gently fold the sugar and preserve mixture into the beaten egg whites.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a pie dish.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10 minutes.
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.
-
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 whites
- Whipped into a firm foam that gives the flan its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dish and helps stabilise the whipped egg white foam.
- Preserve
- Adds fruit sweetness and flavour to the sweetened egg white mixture.
The step that matters
Folding the preserve mixture into the egg whites. Stirring vigorously would deflate the whipped foam and make the flan dense. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles intact so the dish rises and stays light in the oven.
“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
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 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.