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 ↓
Mashed Squash
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the squash, peel it, and remove the seeds.
Steam the squash until tender.
Mash and dry
Place the squash in a clean cloth, mash thoroughly, and squeeze until dry.
Simmer the mashed squash until nearly dry.
Season and serve
Season with cream and salt if desired, and heat again before serving.
Add sugar with the cream if desired.
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
- Summer squash
- Provides the main body and mild flavour of the mash once cooked and mashed.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving the mash a smoother, creamier texture.
The step that matters
Squeeze the mashed squash until dry. Summer squash holds a lot of water. Squeezing it out and simmering it reduces excess moisture, so the mash stays thick instead of watery and bland when cream is added.
“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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