Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Feuit Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cream the butter in a bowl.
Gradually add the powdered sugar while continuing to beat.
Add the egg white and beat until stiff.
Mash the strawberries thoroughly with a silver fork and mix in.
If the sauce separates, place it over hot water and beat until smooth.
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 + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 create a light, smooth base for the sauce.
- Egg white
- Beaten until stiff to add airiness and lightness to the sauce.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the creamed butter to add sweetness and a smooth texture.
- Strawberries
- Mashed into the sauce to add fruit flavor, color, and moisture.
The step that matters
Beating the egg white until stiff. Egg white must be beaten to stiff peaks to trap air, which gives the sauce its light texture. Under-beaten whites leave the sauce dense, and over-beating can make it grainy and dry.
“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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