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 ↓
Endive in a Puree
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the endive
Pick and wash the endive in several waters.
Boil a large pot of water and add the endive with a handful of salt.
Skim the water and boil until the endive is tender.
Drain the endive in a sieve for 2-3 minutes.
Rub the endive through the sieve into a dish.
Let it drain for an hour or more.
Make the puree
In a stewpan, stir the endive with a bit of butter over heat.
Add 3-4 tablespoons of consommé and stir until it thickens.
Mix in 3 tablespoons of béchamel sauce and boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and stir in the egg yolk, cream, salt, and sugar if desired.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Endive
- Forms the main body of the puree, and its fibres break down when boiled and rubbed through a sieve.
- Consommé
- Adds liquid and savoury flavour, and it thickens as the puree reduces over heat.
- Béchamel sauce
- Adds body and creaminess, helping the puree hold together and feel smooth.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches the puree and helps it set to a thicker, silkier texture when gently heated.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel to the finished puree.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolk off the heat. Egg yolk thickens by gentle heat and can scramble if the puree is too hot. Removing the pan from the heat before adding it keeps the texture smooth.
Swap the endive
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce, egg, cream, sugar):
- Asparagusfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Leekfits better
- Endivethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, egg, cream, sugar. 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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