Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Fruit Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Boil sugar and water in a saucepan until it forms a syrup.
Add fruit juice and continue boiling until thick.
If desired, fold in whipped cream and serve cold over cream or sherbet.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the water to form the syrup and gives the sauce its sweetness and body.
- Fruit juice
- Provides the fruit flavour and acidity, and thickens with the syrup as it boils down.
- Whipped cream
- Adds lightness and a soft, creamy texture when folded into the sauce.
The step that matters
Boiling until thick. As the sauce boils, water evaporates and the sugar concentrates, so it thickens as it cools. Stop too early and it stays runny; boil too long and it can turn too stiff or sticky.
“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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