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 ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
In a bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, and flour.
Beat the egg white until frothy and fold it into the mixture.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture while stirring quickly.
Finish
Flavor with brandy, essence of lemon, or ground cinnamon to taste.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps dissolve into the hot liquid for a smooth sauce.
- Butter
- Adds fat and a rich, smooth mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Flour
- Starch that thickens the sauce as it heats in the boiling water.
- Egg white
- Beaten until frothy, it adds a light, airy texture when folded in.
- Boiling water
- Heats the mixture so the flour starch swells and thickens the sauce.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling water while stirring quickly. Flour starch clumps if it meets hot liquid unevenly. Pouring steadily while stirring disperses the starch so the sauce thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps.
“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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