Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Pudding Sauces
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
Add the white wine, nutmeg, lemon rind, and lemon juice.
Melt and finish
Melt the sauce in a porcelain saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.
Do not stop stirring, or the butter will separate and become oily.
If removed from heat, the sauce will stiffen.
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.
-
Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,832 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
-
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Provides fat that gives the sauce its rich, smooth texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and adds body when creamed with the butter.
- White wine
- Adds liquid and acidity that brightens the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Nutmeg
- Adds warm, aromatic flavour.
The step that matters
Keep stirring while the sauce melts. Butter is an emulsion of fat and water. Over heat, without constant stirring, the fat can separate out and make the sauce oily, and the sauce stiffens if it cools off the heat.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, white wine, lemon):
- Thymefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, white wine, lemon. 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.
More pudding sauce recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 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.