Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
A Delicious Breakfast Dish
Ingredients
Directions
In a pot, bring 1 quart of water to a boil.
Add 1 small cup of Superior Germ Grits, stir, and boil for about 5 minutes.
Serve with cream, butter, and sugar.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grits
- Swell in boiling water to form a thick, porridge-like texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel when served.
- Butter
- Adds fat for flavor and a silky finish when served.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the mild corn flavor of the grits.
The step that matters
Adding the grits to boiling water. Grits need to be added to water at a full boil and stirred so they do not clump. Stirring also keeps them from scorching on the bottom of the pot while they cook.
“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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