Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Foam Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Beat the butter and powdered sugar together until light and creamy.
Boil the sweet milk in a custard kettle.
Thicken and finish
Stir in the cornstarch and the yolk of the egg, mixing well until it thickens.
Pour the thickened mixture over the butter and sugar.
Just before serving, beat the egg white until stiff and fold it into the sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk and yolk mixture into a smooth sauce as it heats.
- Egg
- The yolk thickens the sauce, and the whipped white adds lightness to the foam.
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to give the sauce richness and a smooth body.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves easily into the creamed butter.
- Sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base that the cornstarch thickens into a custard-like sauce.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg white. Stiffly beaten egg white traps air and makes the foam. Folding gently keeps that air in, while vigorous stirring deflates it and leaves the sauce flat. Adding it just before serving keeps the foam light.
“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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