Why it works: Cream and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Cucumbers a LA Creme
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare and quarter or dice the cucumbers, removing the seeds.
Soak the cucumbers in water for 30 minutes until crisp.
Cook and serve
In a saucepan, cover the cucumbers with boiling water and add salt.
Boil for about 30 minutes until tender.
Drain the cucumbers and add to the cream sauce, cooking for a moment or two.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Cucumber + saucetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,174 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Cucumber + creamtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together787 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Make up the bulk of the dish; heat softens their firm flesh and releases water.
- Cream sauce
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy coating for the softened cucumbers.
The step that matters
Draining the cucumbers before adding them to the cream sauce. Cucumbers hold a lot of water, and any that remains after boiling will thin the cream sauce and dilute its flavour. Draining well helps the sauce stay thick and coat the cucumbers.
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sauce):
- Horseradishfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sauce. 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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 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.