Why it works: Cream and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓
White Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare a clean saucepan and add the white stock, which should be well flavored with vegetables.
Mix the flour smoothly with the cream and add it to the stock.
Season with a little salt and boil gently for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
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.
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid as its starch swells with heat, giving the sauce body.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.
- White stock
- Forms the liquid base and carries the vegetable flavor through the sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring constantly while the sauce boils. Stirring keeps the flour and cream from settling and scorching on the base of the pan. Starch and milk proteins can burn quickly there, giving a bitter, stuck-on taste.
“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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