Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Soda Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Mix tartaric acid, cream of tartar, Rochelle salts, sugar, and essence of wintergreen with cold water.
Stir well and add the beaten egg whites.
Fill fruit jars and bottles with the mixture.
Serve
To serve, mix 3 tablespoons of the cream with ½ glass of water and add ½ teaspoon of soda.
Stir and serve immediately.
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 + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tartaric acid
- Provides the sharp, acidic bite that balances the sugar and reacts with soda to fizz.
- Sugar
- Supplies sweetness and bulk, giving the syrup its body.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acidity and helps stabilise the mixture.
- Egg whites
- Whip into the mixture to add foam and a light, creamy texture.
The step that matters
Serving with soda. The soda must be added to the cream and water mixture just before serving. Acid and bicarbonate react to release carbon dioxide, so the fizz fades if the drink stands too long.
“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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