Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Currie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curry paste
In a bowl, mix curry powder, flour, and butter until smooth.
Finish and serve
Add cream and salt to the mixture, then stir into the stew half an hour before serving.
Squeeze in lemon juice just before serving.
Serve with boiled dry rice.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Lemon + ricetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Curry powder
- Provides the spiced flavour that defines the dish.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the sauce by absorbing liquid when mixed with butter.
- Butter
- Carries the curry powder and adds richness to the sauce.
- Cream
- Adds smoothness and body, softening the sauce's texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring the cream into the stew. Adding cream to a boiling stew can cause it to curdle. Stirring it in gently, and keeping the stew from boiling hard, helps keep the sauce smooth.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, cream, veal, rice):
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, cream, veal, rice. 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.
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