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 ↓
Welsh Rarebit
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cheese sauce
Melt the butter and cheese in a double boiler.
Once melted, stir in the eggs, paprika, salt, cayenne, baking soda, and cream.
Cook until thickened like custard.
Serve
Serve on toast, placing the cheese mixture on the untoasted side.
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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Butter + cheesetop 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 + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cheese
- Melts into the sauce to provide richness and the characteristic savoury flavour.
- Eggs
- Set when heated, thickening the sauce into a custard-like texture.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and fat, keeping the sauce smooth and pourable.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and helps it melt smoothly with the cheese.
- Baking soda
- Raises the pH of the cheese, which helps it melt more smoothly.
The step that matters
Cook until thickened like custard. Egg proteins set at moderate heat, so the sauce thickens. Overheating or cooking too fast can curdle the eggs and make the sauce grainy, so keep the heat gentle and stir constantly.
“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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