Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Strawberry Cream or Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mash the strawberries in a bowl.
Sweeten the mashed strawberries to your taste.
Make the sauce
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the sweetened strawberries.
Pour the mixture over cakes and 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 + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit flavour, colour and moisture that form the sauce base.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff peaks, they add airy volume and a light, fluffy texture to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mashed strawberries to balance their natural tartness.
The step that matters
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the sweetened strawberries. Whipped egg whites are a foam held by trapped air. Stirring vigorously knocks that air out and deflates the sauce, so folding gently keeps it light and airy.
“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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