Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Strawberries and Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select fresh, ripe strawberries and remove any imperfect or unsound berries.
If necessary, quickly rinse the strawberries in cold water and do not soak them.
Serve
Serve the strawberries with thick cream and finely powdered sugar on the 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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh strawberries
- Provide the main flavour and juicy texture, with natural sweetness and acidity.
- Thick cream
- Adds richness and fat, balancing the acidity of the berries.
- Finely powdered sugar
- Sweetens the berries and cream and dissolves quickly without grittiness.
The step that matters
Rinsing the strawberries. Strawberries are porous and absorb water, which dilutes their flavour and makes them soft and watery. A quick rinse in cold water, without soaking, keeps them firm and full-flavoured.
“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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