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White Cream Sauce

A simple white sauce made with butter, flour, milk, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

White Cream Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the roux

  1. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and stir until smooth.

Add the milk and finish

  1. Gradually add 1 cup of milk (or cream) while stirring.

  2. Cook until thickened.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

Variation

  1. Use stock instead of milk.

  2. White stock is made from veal, chicken or fish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

712Calories
21 gProtein
21 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
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.

By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [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.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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
Adds fat and rich flavor to the base of the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce as its starch swells in the hot liquid.
Milk
Forms the liquid body of the sauce and adds creaminess.

The step that matters

Gradually add the milk while stirring. Flour starch clumps when liquid is poured in all at once. Adding milk slowly while stirring keeps the mixture smooth, and the starch then thickens evenly as it heats.

“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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