Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Snow Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gelatine
Dissolve the gelatine in warm water.
Make the snow
In a bowl, beat the egg whites until light.
Add sugar and vanilla to the egg whites and mix well.
Combine the gelatine mixture with the egg mixture and beat until perfectly light.
Set
Pour into a mold and set in a cool place.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together27,347 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam that gives the dessert its light, airy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dessert and helps stabilise the whipped egg white foam.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites and combining with the gelatine. Egg whites must be beaten until light and foamy to trap air, which gives the dish its volume. If the gelatine mixture is too warm or too cold when combined, or the mixture is under-beaten, the foam can deflate or the dessert may turn out dense.
“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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