Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, blend the butter and flour together.
Add the milk or cream and the lemon juice, stirring until smooth.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
For caper or parsley sauce, add 2 to 4 tablespoons of finely chopped capers or parsley to the mixture.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps form the base roux with the flour.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce by swelling in the hot butter and milk.
- Milk or cream
- Forms the liquid of the sauce, giving body and a smooth, creamy texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Add the milk or cream gradually while stirring. Flour mixed with butter thickens smoothly only if the liquid is incorporated gradually and stirred. Adding it all at once can trap clumps of flour that stay lumpy and never fully dissolve.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, pepper):
- Lemonthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Mangofits about as well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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