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 ↓
Oatmeal Food
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the oats in the cold water for 1 hour.
Rub the soaked oats well with your hands.
Strain the mixture through a double layer of fine net.
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).
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Oats + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,548 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Oats + creamtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together634 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hornby's steam cooked oats
- Starch and fibre from the oats thicken the strained liquid and give it body.
- Fresh cream
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, creamier mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the plain oat flavour.
The step that matters
Rubbing the soaked oats well. Pressing the softened oats breaks them down and releases their starch and fine particles into the water. Thorough rubbing gives the strained liquid more body, while too little leaves it thin.
“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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