Why it works: Butter and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Beat the butter until creamy.
Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat.
Add the strawberries one at a time, mashing and beating until the mixture is light.
If the sauce appears curdled, add more sugar.
Store
Store in a cool place until ready to use.
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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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and give the sauce a smooth, rich body.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps stabilise the creamed butter, making it lighter.
- Strawberries
- Provide fruit flavour, colour and moisture to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the strawberries. Butter and sugar must be beaten light before the strawberries go in, and they should be added one at a time. Adding them too fast or to cold butter can split the emulsion, causing the sauce to look curdled.
“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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