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 ↓
Meringues a LA Crenae
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 200°F (93°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 200°F (93°C).
Make the meringue
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gradually add the powdered sugar while continuing to beat until the mixture is glossy and holds its shape.
Spoon or pipe the meringue onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake
Bake for about 1 hour or until the meringues are dry and can be easily lifted off the paper.
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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that traps air and gives the meringue its structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the foam to stabilise it, add sweetness and give a glossy finish.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar gradually. Sugar added slowly while beating dissolves fully into the egg white foam, making it glossy and stable. Adding it too fast or all at once can leave grainy, weeping meringue that collapses.
“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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