Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the butter until creamy.
Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat.
Add the strawberries one at a time, mashing and beating until light and fluffy.
If the mixture appears curdled, add more sugar and refrigerate 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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the sauce a light, fluffy body and rich flavour.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and, beaten with butter, helps create its light, airy texture.
- Strawberries
- Provide fruit flavour, colour and moisture to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the strawberries. Butter and sugar must be well beaten first so the fat holds air. Adding fruit too quickly can break the emulsion, causing the mixture to look curdled and separate.
“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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