Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Bread Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Cook milk for thirty minutes in a double boiler, with fine bread crumbs and onion stuck with cloves.
Remove onion, add salt, cayenne, and two tablespoons butter.
Serve
Serve poured around roast partridge or grouse, and sprinkle with coarse crumbs browned in remaining butter.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Clove | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp (1.8g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,901 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
-
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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 that the crumbs thicken and flavour.
- Fine stale bread crumbs
- Absorb milk and swell, thickening the sauce to a smooth, lightly textured body.
- Onion
- Infused into the milk with cloves, adding a mild savoury aroma.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a rounder mouthfeel.
- Coarse stale bread crumbs
- Browned in butter for a crisp, nutty topping with contrasting texture.
The step that matters
Cooking the milk in a double boiler. Gentle indirect heat keeps the milk from scorching or boiling over while the crumbs soften and thicken it slowly and evenly.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, bread, onion, butter):
- Garlicfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, bread, onion, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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