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Drink

Buttered Water

A warm drink made from water, egg yolk, butter, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Walnut and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,832 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Buttered Water

Ingredients

Directions

Make the drink

  1. In a saucepan, combine water and beaten egg yolk.

  2. Add butter and sugar, stirring continuously over medium heat.

  3. Once it begins to boil, pour the mixture between the saucepan and a mug until smooth and frothy.

Serve

  1. Serve warm; it's good for a cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Walnut + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + walnuttop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolk
Adds richness and body, helping the drink turn smooth and frothy.
Butter
Adds fat, giving the drink a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the drink.

The step that matters

Pouring between the saucepan and the mug. Once the mixture boils, the egg yolk can scramble if it overheats. Stirring constantly over medium heat and pouring the liquid back and forth helps it cool slightly and become smooth and frothy.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pecansfits better
  3. Filbertfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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