Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Sauce Blanche
Ingredients
Directions
Make the roux
In a 1-liter saucepan, melt 30 grams of butter over low heat.
Add 30 grams of flour and mix to form a paste.
Stir in a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper.
Make the sauce
Gradually add 2.5 deciliters of hot water while stirring continuously.
Cook on the heat until it reaches a boil.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
- Carries flavor and richness, and its fat coats the flour so it forms a smooth paste.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the liquid as it heats, giving the sauce its body.
- Hot water
- Serves as the liquid that the flour thickens into a pourable sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the hot water gradually while stirring. Flour starch clumps if liquid is poured in all at once. Adding the liquid slowly while stirring lets each starch grain disperse and swell evenly, giving a smooth sauce.
“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.
More white sauce recipes
You might also like
Wine Sauce (for stewed fruit)186 recipes
Caper Sauce180 recipes
Brown Sauce141 recipes
Dutch Sauce74 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.