Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Fried Bread Crumbs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub the bread through a wire sieve or colander until fine.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Fry and drain
Add the bread crumbs and stir with a wooden spoon until they turn golden brown.
Spread the crumbs on a sieve and let them drain for 10 minutes, turning frequently.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Fat that fries the crumbs, adding richness and helping them turn golden brown.
- Bread
- Provides the crumbs that crisp and brown in the butter.
The step that matters
Stirring the crumbs until golden brown. Crumbs are small and dry, so they can go from golden to burnt quickly over medium heat. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps them from scorching.
“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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