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 Claeipy Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Combine sugar and water in a pot.
Add the egg whites and bring to a boil.
Boil twice, then let it sit to allow impurities to rise.
Skim off the impurities carefully.
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 is clarified, providing sweetness and the body of the finished liquid.
- Egg whites
- Coagulate when heated, trapping impurities so they rise to the surface for skimming.
The step that matters
Skim off the impurities carefully. Egg whites coagulate and trap particles as the syrup heats. Stirring or breaking the raft mixes impurities back into the liquid, leaving it cloudy instead of clear.
“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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