Why it works: Blue cheese and white wine share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 20 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl pentanoate, which smells yeast, fruit. The science ↓
The recipe
pasta for 4Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Make the sauce
Cook pasta while preparing sauce below.
Heat oil in saucepan. Add onions and brown through.
Add garlic.
Add wine gradually as onions start to stick to pan.
Reduce heat, add blue cheese and melt.
Add evaporated milk.
Add salt and pepper, tasting as you go.
Thicken with cornflour (1–2 tablespoons in a little water, stirred into the mixture).
Serve
Drain cooked pasta.
Stir sauce into pasta and serve immediately.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Blue cheese + white winetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together20 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Garlic + pastatop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,077 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Garlic + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,044 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
White wine + garlictop 5% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,938 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Blue cheese
- Melts into the sauce, adding its salty, sharp flavour and creamy body.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and depth, and deglazes the browned onions from the pan.
- Onions
- Browning builds sweetness and savoury depth as the onions caramelise.
- Evaporated milk
- Provides a rich, creamy base that carries the cheese smoothly.
- Cornflour
- Thickens the sauce so it coats the pasta rather than running off.
- Pasta
- Carries the sauce; the starch and surface give the sauce something to cling to.
The step that matters
Thicken with cornflour. Cornflour must be mixed into cold water before stirring in, otherwise it clumps. Starch only thickens once heated, so the sauce needs to be stirred until it visibly thickens before serving.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (blue cheese, white wine, evaporated milk, garlic, pasta, pepper):
- Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
- Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against blue cheese, white wine, evaporated milk, garlic, pasta, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.