Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Melted Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Place the butter and cream or milk in a saucepan.
Shake the pan over a clear fire until the butter is melted.
Do not place the pan directly on the fire.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Melts to form the base of the sauce and carries richness and flavour.
- Cream or milk
- Adds moisture and softness, helping the butter melt smoothly and stay emulsified.
The step that matters
Do not place the pan directly on the fire.. Butter is mostly water and milk solids. Direct intense heat can scorch the milk solids and separate the fat, so gentle shaking over a clear fire melts it 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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