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Velouté Sauce

A smooth white sauce made from a roux of butter and flour, thickened with white stock and seasoned with salt and white pepper.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Velouté Sauce

2 cups
Timeabout 2 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the roux

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat until the foam subsides.

  2. Whisk in the flour and cook slowly, stirring until the mixture froths up for about 2 minutes. Ensure the flour loses its raw smell but not its color.

  3. Remove the roux from the heat.

Make the sauce

  1. Slowly incorporate the stock, whisking quickly but smoothly to create a smooth mixture.

  2. Add the seasonings and cook over medium‑low heat, stirring frequently.

  3. Simmer the sauce until it lightly coats the back of a spoon.

  4. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

563Calories
13 gProtein
13 gFat
96 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + white peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Flour + white peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,228 recipes

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Carries the flour into a roux and adds richness and flavor to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the stock as it cooks, giving the sauce body and a smooth coating texture.
White stock
Forms the liquid base of the sauce and provides its main savory flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking the roux. Cooking the flour in butter long enough removes its raw taste, while stopping before it darkens keeps the sauce pale and mild. Stirring keeps the flour from scorching and lumping.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour):

  1. Jalapenofits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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