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Molasses Sauce

A sweet and tangy sauce made from molasses, vinegar, milk, butter, sugar, flour, wine, eggs, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 22 ingredients
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Molasses Sauce

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Molasses Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the molasses sauce

  1. Combine one cup molasses, two large spoons sugar, one-half cup vinegar; let boil up once or twice.

  2. Thicken with a dessert spoonful of flour mixed with a.

  3. Reserve 87 little of the molasses.

  4. Boil about ten minutes; take from the fire and add a piece of butter the size of an egg.

  5. Beat whites of three eggs to a stiff froth.

  6. Melt a teacup of sugar in a little water and let it come to a boil.

  7. Stir in one glass of wine and then the yolks of the eggs.

  8. Serve at once.

Make the butter sauce

  1. Cream half a pound of butter, and stir in half a pound of sugar.

  2. Add the yolk of an egg and a gill of wine.

  3. Put it on the fire; stir till it sin.meis.

  4. Flavor with nutmeg.

  5. Combine one-half pint of milk, one tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of flour, and two tablespoonfuls of molasses.

  6. Boil ten minutes.

  7. Combine one and a half cups powdered sugar, two-thirds of a cup butter; beat to a stiff cream.

  8. Add one wineglass of wine or vanilla or nutmeg or brandy and beaten white of an egg.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

931Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
137 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3

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

By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

Molasses
Provides the dark colour, sweetness and rich flavour of the sauce.
Eggs
Whites beaten to a froth add lightness, and yolks enrich and thicken the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, glossy body to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce as its starch swells when heated.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the sharpness of the vinegar.

The step that matters

Thickening with flour. Flour must be mixed smoothly into the liquid before heating, otherwise it forms lumps. Starch thickens the sauce only as it heats and swells, so the sauce should be boiled long enough for full thickening.

“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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