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 ↓
Foamy Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Cream the butter until light.
Add the granulated sugar and stir until very white.
Just before serving, pour in the boiling water and stir rapidly for 2 minutes.
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
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the sauce a light, rich body and fat for flavor.
- Granulated sugar
- Creamed with butter to create a pale, airy base and provide sweetness.
- Boiling water
- Hot liquid that melts the creamed mixture and helps it emulsify into a foamy, smooth sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring in the boiling water. Adding the water just before serving and stirring rapidly incorporates air and keeps the sauce foamy. If it sits, the foam collapses and the sauce turns dense and separated.
“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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