Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream for Cream Toast
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Scald one cup of milk in the double boiler.
Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter in a sauce pan.
When melted, stir in two tablespoonfuls of sifted flour (level).
Pour a little of the hot milk onto the mixture, stirring until smooth.
Add the rest of the milk.
Turn all back in the double boiler and cook for ten minutes.
Finish
The flour is thoroughly cooked, and if well stirred it will not be lumpy.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the cream, and its heat thickens it as the flour cooks.
- Butter
- Melts to form a fat base that coats the flour and helps keep it smooth.
- Flour
- Starch that absorbs liquid and thickens the milk into a cream.
The step that matters
Adding the flour-butter mixture to the milk. Starch granules clump when they meet hot liquid without being dispersed first. Adding a little hot milk to the flour and butter, stirring until smooth, lets the granules separate, so the cream thickens without lumps.
“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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