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Dessert

Buttered Jack

Buttered Jack is a sweet made from sugar, sherry, butter, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,505 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Buttered Jack

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. In a brass pan, combine the lump sugar and sherry.

  2. Add the fresh butter and melt over low heat.

Add the eggs

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs with a little sherry.

  2. Once the butter mixture has cooled slightly, stir in the eggs gently.

Finish

  1. Place the pan on the hob and heat until hot, but do not let it boil.

  2. Sweeten to taste.

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. Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,141 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

Lump sugar
Provides sweetness and body to the confection.
Sherry
Adds aroma and flavour to the confection.
Fresh butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, melting texture.
Eggs
Add richness and body, as their proteins thicken with gentle heat.

The step that matters

Stirring in the eggs. Add the eggs only once the butter mixture has cooled slightly, and keep the pan from boiling. Egg proteins thicken with heat and can scramble or curdle if the mixture is too hot, so stir gently to keep it smooth.

“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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