Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cream the butter.
Gradually add the powdered sugar.
Beat the egg until stiff and fold it in.
Mash the strawberries and mix until combined.
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 + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and gives the sauce a smooth, rich body.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves easily into the creamed butter for a smooth texture.
- Egg
- Beaten egg adds air and lightness, giving the sauce a softer, fluffier texture.
- Strawberries
- Provide fruit flavour, color, and moisture to the sauce.
The step that matters
Beat the egg until stiff and fold it in. Stiff egg white holds air that lightens the sauce; overmixing after folding in will knock that air out and make it dense.
“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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