Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Favorite Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Beat the yolks of two eggs until thick.
Add the beaten white of one egg and the confectioners' sugar.
Place the mixture in a double boiler and cook, stirring, until thick.
Finish the sauce
Pour into a cool bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until cold.
Mix in one cup of whipped cream and flavor as desired.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce as they cook and give it a rich, smooth body.
- Egg white
- Adds volume and a lighter texture to the beaten base.
- Confectioners' sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves smoothly into the eggs.
- Whipped cream
- Adds fat and air, making the chilled sauce lighter and creamier.
The step that matters
Cooking the base in the double boiler. Egg yolks thicken from gentle heat but can scramble if overheated. Cooking slowly over simmering water, while stirring, keeps the custard smooth and lets it thicken evenly.
“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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