Why it works: Sugar and cream 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
Carefully pick over the strawberries.
If they are dirty, wash them by pouring water over them in a colander.
Assemble and serve
Arrange the strawberries in a glass dish.
Sprinkle a thick layer of powdered sugar over them when the dish is half full, and another layer on top.
Sugar the strawberries only a few minutes before serving.
Cover with cream or diluted condensed milk when serving.
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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit flavor, juicy body and fresh acidity that form the base of the dish.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and draws out its juices to form a syrup.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat that mellow the tart fruit and contrast with its texture.
The step that matters
Sugaring the strawberries. Sugar draws liquid out of the fruit through osmosis. If the strawberries sit sugared for too long, they become watery and soft, so sugar them only a few minutes before serving.
“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.
More strawberries and cream recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.