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 ↓
Pot-chbese with Watercresses
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cheese
In a bowl, combine pot cheese and salt.
Add butter and mix until soft and pliable.
Gradually incorporate cream until well mixed.
Shape and serve
Shape into a round mound and garnish with watercresses.
Serve with saltine crackers.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,655 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + watercresstop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together638 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pot cheese
- Forms the main body of the spread, providing its creamy, soft base.
- Butter
- Adds fat, making the cheese richer and smoother in texture.
- Cream
- Adds moisture, loosening the mixture so it becomes spreadable and well blended.
The step that matters
Gradually incorporate cream until well mixed. Adding cream slowly lets the mixture absorb it evenly. Pouring it in all at once can make the cheese loose or uneven in texture.
“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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