Why it works: Honey and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,327 recipes. Both carry anethole, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓
Honey Meringue
Ingredients
Directions
Cream the honey and butter together until creamy.
Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form.
Fold the honey and butter mixture into the egg whites.
Spread the mixture on a pie and brown it in the oven.
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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Honey + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,327 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Honey + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,150 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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 foam that gives the meringue its light structure and sets when baked.
- Honey
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the top brown as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the mixture a softer, smoother texture.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stiff peaks trap air that gives the meringue its lift. Underbeaten whites stay runny and may not hold, while overbeaten whites turn dry and grainy and lose their stability.
“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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