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 ↓
Preservation of Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the butter
Work 1 to 2 ounces of coarse sea salt into 1 pound of butter until fully incorporated.
For longer preservation, mix 2 parts coarse sea salt, 1 part sugar, and 1 part saltpetre into a fine powder.
Use 1 ounce of this mixture for each pound of butter, mixing it thoroughly with the butter after separating it from the whey.
Pack and seal
Pack the butter tightly into a clean cask, covering the top with a sprinkling of salt and pouring melted butter over it to fill any gaps.
Seal the cask tightly to exclude air.
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
- Forms the fat base that is preserved and carries the flavour of the finished dish.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and slows microbial growth, which is the main way the butter is preserved.
- Sugar
- Adds mild sweetness that softens the sharpness of the salt.
The step that matters
Pack tightly and seal out air. Air pockets let mould and rancidity develop, since salt only protects the areas it actually reaches. Filling gaps with melted butter and sealing the cask tightly keeps oxygen away from the fat.
“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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