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 ↓
Meringues
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C).
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Make the meringue
Gradually add ⅔ cup of sugar, one tablespoon at a time, while continuing to beat.
Once all sugar is added, stop beating and gently fold in any remaining sugar.
Bake
Spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet and bake for at least 25 minutes without browning.
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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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
- Trap air when beaten, forming a foam that gives the meringue its structure and lightness.
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the foam, stabilizing it and adding sweetness.
The step that matters
Gradually adding the sugar. Adding sugar slowly, one tablespoon at a time, lets it dissolve into the whites and strengthen the foam. Dumping it in all at once can leave grainy sugar and a weak, deflated foam that won't hold stiff peaks.
“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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