Why it works: Sugar and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Strawberry Sauce for Cottage Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Mash the strawberries until fine.
Rub the butter and half of the powdered sugar together.
Add half of the mashed strawberries, then alternate adding the remaining sugar and strawberries until all are used.
Beat the mixture thoroughly and refrigerate until ready to serve.
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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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 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
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves into the strawberries to give it a smooth, thick body.
- Strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor, acidity, and color of the sauce.
- Butter
- Rubbed with sugar to add richness and a silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
The step that matters
Beating the mixture thoroughly. Beating incorporates the sugar and fruit evenly and breaks down strawberry pieces, so the sauce turns smooth rather than grainy or watery. Chilling afterward lets it firm up and the flavors settle.
“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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