Why it works: Sugar and butter 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 ↓
Cherry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, combine sugar and boiling water.
Stir in cornstarch and mashed cherries.
Cook over medium heat until smooth and thick.
Remove from heat and stir in butter.
Serve
Serve hot.
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 + buttertop 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
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, dissolved in water, forms the body of the syrup.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth, glossy sauce as it heats.
- Mashed cherries
- Supply the cherry flavour and fruit pulp that gives the sauce its colour and texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel when stirred in off the heat.
The step that matters
Cook until smooth and thick. Cornstarch must be heated enough to swell and gelatinise, or the sauce stays thin and tastes starchy. Stirring while it cooks prevents lumps forming as the starch settles on the bottom of the pan.
“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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