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 ↓
Florida Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
In an earthen baking dish, combine the egg whites and sugar without stirring.
Place the dish on hot coals and stir continuously until the mixture reaches a boiling heat, too hot to touch.
Remove from heat and beat the mixture in the same dish until nearly cold.
Add the tartaric acid and beat until thick and smooth.
Finish
This icing will dry quickly if heated properly.
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 and cooked to form the airy, stable structure of the icing.
- White sugar
- Dissolves into the egg whites to sweeten and help the icing set smooth and glossy.
- Tartaric acid
- Acidity that stabilizes the egg white foam and keeps the icing from turning grainy.
The step that matters
Heating the egg white and sugar mixture. Heating must bring the mixture to boiling without stirring it into a grainy or lumpy texture. Heated properly, the proteins set and the icing dries quickly, as the record notes.
“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.