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
Mash the strawberries until juicy. Canned berries can be used instead of fresh.
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
Stir in the mashed strawberries and the beaten egg white.
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
- Strawberries
- Provide the main fruit flavour and moisture that make up the sauce's body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and, when beaten with sugar, a creamy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps the butter beat into a creamy base.
- Egg white
- Adds body and a light, airy texture when beaten into the sauce.
The step that matters
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Beating works air into the fat and dissolves sugar crystals into it, creating a smooth, light base. If the butter is not beaten enough, the sauce stays grainy and does not lighten before the fruit goes in.
“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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