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 ↓
To Melt Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Break the butter into small pieces and place them in a clean saucepan.
Add the cream, milk, or water, and sprinkle the flour over it.
Hold the saucepan over the heat and toss it quickly in one direction while the butter melts.
Continue until the mixture thickens to the consistency of very thick cream.
Let it just boil, then quickly remove from heat.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Melts to form the body of the sauce and carries its rich flavor.
- Fine dried flour
- Thickens the melted butter and liquid into a smooth, creamy consistency.
- Thin sweet cream or milk
- Provides the liquid that the flour thickens into a pourable sauce.
The step that matters
Let it just boil, then remove from heat quickly. Flour thickens as it heats, but holding the sauce at a full boil for too long can cause it to thin or break. Stopping right at the first boil keeps it smooth and thick.
“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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