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 ↓
Croutons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut stale bread into cubes.
Brown the croutons
Brown the cubes in butter in an omelet pan.
Alternatively, butter first, cut into cubes, and brown in the oven.
Serve with thick soups.
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.
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Provides the base cubes that crisp and brown into croutons.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the bread brown and gives a rich flavour.
The step that matters
Brown the cubes in butter. Cubes need even contact with the hot fat and a moderate heat; too little heat leaves them soggy, while too much browns the outside before the centre dries and crisps.
“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.
More croutons recipes
You might also like
Cornbread345 recipes
Bread Pudding336 recipes
Nut Bread109 recipes
Wheat Bread65 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.