Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
To Make Mustard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mustard
Mix the mustard flour with boiling water until thick and smooth.
Add salt.
Store the mixture in a small covered jar.
Use for immediate serving
For immediate use, mix mustard with new milk gradually until smooth.
Add raw cream.
Optionally, add sugar to soften the mustard.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Mustard flour
- Provides the mustard's pungent bite and the bulk of the paste once mixed with liquid.
- New milk
- Thins the paste and mellows its sharpness for immediate use.
- Raw cream
- Adds richness and a smoother, creamier texture.
- Sugar
- Softens the sharp bite and adds a mild sweetness.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour with boiling water. Boiling water inactivates the enzyme myrosinase in mustard flour, so the sharp heat does not fully develop and the paste stays mild. Cooler liquid lets the heat form.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, cream, sugar):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Potatofits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, 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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