Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, combine red wine and water.
Add egg yolks, sugar, lemon rind, and cinnamon.
Place over medium heat and stir until the sauce thickens.
Serve
Remove from heat and serve hot.
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 + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Red wine + cinnamontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together312 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce as they set gently with heat, giving it a smooth, rich body.
- Red wine
- Forms the main liquid base and provides the sauce's flavour and colour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the wine and lemon.
The step that matters
Stirring over medium heat until thickened. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat, and if the sauce gets too hot it can curdle or scramble. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly so the sauce thickens smoothly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (red wine, egg, sugar, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Pearfits better
- Plumfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against red wine, egg, sugar, cinnamon. 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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