Why it works: Butter and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,505 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Foam Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the egg yolks and sherry, mixing well.
Finish the sauce
Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Place the mixture in a bowl of hot water and stir for one minute.
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 + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps the butter cream to a smooth, aerated base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky texture when creamed with the sugar.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the sauce into a smooth mixture.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and a subtle fruity, slightly acidic flavour.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and folded in, they trap air to give the sauce its light foam.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites. Gentle folding keeps the air bubbles trapped in the whipped whites. Vigorous stirring deflates them, so the sauce turns dense instead of light and foamy.
“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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