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Sauce

Foaming Sauce

A light, frothy sauce made with butter, powdered sugar, egg whites, wine or brandy, and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,645 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Foaming Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Beat the butter until creamy.

  2. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing well.

  3. Add the egg whites one at a time, mixing after each addition.

  4. Stir in the wine or brandy until smooth.

  5. Slowly add the boiling water, beating in a little at a time.

  6. Place the bowl in a basin of hot water and stir until smooth and frothy, about 2 minutes.

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.

  1. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together9,581 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Provides fat and richness, creaming to a base that holds air.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and body, dissolving smoothly into the butter.
Egg whites
Whip and trap air, helping the sauce become light and frothy.
Wine or brandy
Adds aroma and a sharp flavour that balances the sweetness.
Boiling water
Loosens the mixture and helps it emulsify into a smooth, frothy texture.

The step that matters

Adding the boiling water. Adding it too quickly or all at once can cause the butter to separate or the sauce to curdle. Adding it slowly, a little at a time, lets the mixture emulsify into a smooth, stable sauce.

“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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