Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Melted Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Ensure the saucepan is very clean.
In the saucepan, mix the water and flour until smooth.
Add the butter to the mixture.
Let the mixture sit for an hour before heating.
Heat and melt
Place the saucepan on the fire and stir continuously.
Shake the saucepan occasionally, ensuring the liquid moves in the same direction.
If the mixture separates, discard it.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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
- Provides the fat that melts and gives the sauce its rich flavor and smooth body.
- Flour
- Thickens the water and butter mixture and helps keep it from separating.
- Water
- Forms the liquid base that the butter emulsifies into.
The step that matters
Stir continuously while heating. Butter is an emulsion of fat and water solids. Constant stirring spreads heat evenly, so the mixture does not scorch or separate into a greasy layer.
“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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