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 ↓
Watermelon Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Save all the juice from the watermelon and scrape the red pulp finely.
Add a little water to the pulp, ensuring enough melon for a strong flavor.
Combine 1 pound of sugar with 1 gallon of the watermelon liquid and freeze.
When half frozen, add the well-beaten egg whites and stir frequently from the bottom with a long-handled wooden spatula.
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
- Watermelon
- Supplies the main liquid and the flavor of the ice.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice softer.
- Egg whites
- Whipped proteins trap air, giving the frozen mixture a lighter, airier texture.
The step that matters
Adding the egg whites when the mixture is half frozen. Adding the beaten whites to a partly frozen base helps them hold their air instead of deflating or melting the mixture. Stirring frequently from the bottom keeps the whites and forming ice crystals evenly distributed.
“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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