Why it works: Butter and sugar 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 ↓
To Preserve Butter for Winter, the Best Way
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Blend the salt, sugar, and saltpetre together well.
Mix and pack the butter
Mix 1 ounce of this blend with 16 ounces of butter until well combined.
Press the mixture into pans that hold 10 to 12 pounds each.
Sprinkle additional salt on top.
Store
If the salt turns to brine and does not cover the butter, add strong salt and water.
Cover the pans to protect from dust.
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 + sugartop 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
- Butter
- Is the fat being preserved, and the mass that the cure is worked into.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and preserves the butter against spoilage.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds a little sweetness and balances the salt's sharpness.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the butter and gives it a cured character.
The step that matters
Keeping the salt covering the butter. Salt must stay in contact with the butter as brine forms, because the brine layer is what protects the butter from spoilage. If the salt dissolves into brine and no longer covers the butter, the exposed surface can spoil, so strong salt and water are added to restore coverage.
“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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