Why it works: Milk and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,479 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓
Wine Whey
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curd
Boil the milk in a saucepan.
While boiling, pour in the sherry wine.
Bring it to a boil again without stirring.
Separate the whey
Once it boils, set aside until the curd settles.
Pour off the clear whey.
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.
-
Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
-
Milk + winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,116 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (fenugreek, curry).
-
Sherry + winetop 32% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together0 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Its proteins clump into soft curds when acid and heat are applied, forming the solid part.
- Sherry wine
- Its acidity causes the milk proteins to curdle, separating clear whey from the curds.
The step that matters
Bring it to a boil again without stirring.. Stirring breaks the forming curds into fine pieces that stay suspended and cloud the whey. Leaving the pot undisturbed lets the curds join and settle, so the whey can be poured off clear.
“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 wine whey recipes
You might also like
The 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.

Raisin Wine64 recipes
Egg Wine58 recipes
Elderberry Wine51 recipes
Rhubarb Wine51 recipes