Why it works: Sugar and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Cherry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, combine the canned cherries, sugar, and boiling water.
Add the butter and stir until melted.
Dissolve the cornstarch in a little water and add it to the mixture.
Cook over medium heat, stirring until the sauce thickens.
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 + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 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
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body once the starch swells in liquid.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the tartness of the cherries.
- Canned cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and liquid for the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, glossy mouthfeel to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the cornstarch. Cornstarch must be fully dissolved in cold water before it goes into hot liquid; added dry or as lumps, it clumps and thickens unevenly. It thickens only when the mixture reaches a simmer and is stirred.
“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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