Name: Wine Oh Brandy Sauce for Puddings
Ingredients: 1 pint melted butter (see recipe No. 377, omit salt); 3 teaspoons pounded sugar; ⅓ cup port or sherry, or 2 tablespoons brandy

Why it works: Butter and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,505 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Wine Oh Brandy Sauce for Puddings

Ingredients

1 pint melted butter (see recipe No. 377, omit salt)
3 teaspoons pounded sugar
⅓ cup port or sherry, or 2 tablespoons brandy

Directions

Prepare 1 pint of melted butter by following recipe No. 377, omitting the salt.
Stir in the sugar and the port, sherry, or brandy.
Bring the sauce to a boil.
Serve in a boat or tureen separately, or pour a little over the pudding if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,141 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 gives the sauce its richness and smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the wine or brandy flavour.
Port, sherry, or brandy: Adds the main aroma and flavour of wine or spirit to the butter.

“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.