Name: Putting Up Butter to Keep
Ingredients: one ounce of white sugar; three gallons of brine strong enough to bear an egg; a pound of white sugar; two quarts

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 ↓

Putting Up Butter to Keep

Ingredients

one ounce of white sugar
three gallons of brine strong enough to bear an egg
a pound of white sugar
two quarts

Directions

Prepare the cure

Take two quarts of the best pure common salt, one ounce of white sugar, and one ounce of saltpetre; pulverize them together completely.

Cure the butter

Work the butter well, then thoroughly work in an ounce of this mixture to every pound of butter.
Make the butter into half-pound rolls, and put into the following brine: to three gallons of brine strong enough to bear an egg, add a quarter of a pound of white sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

127Calories

6 gProtein

5 gFat

13 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 2 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

White sugar: Adds sweetness and mild flavour that balances the salt in the cure.
Saltpetre (in the method): Helps preserve the butter and keep its colour during curing.
Common salt (in the method): Seasons the butter and draws out moisture to firm and preserve it.

“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.