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Sauce

White Sauce

A sweet white sauce made with butter, powdered sugar, egg whites, and vanilla or sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

White Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Cream and whip

  1. Beat 1 cup butter with 1 cup powdered sugar to a cream.

  2. Add the white of 1 unbeaten egg, and beat.

  3. Then add a second white of egg, and beat hard until as light as possible.

Finish and serve

  1. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, stand in a pan of boiling water over the fire, and stir in briskly 1 cup boiling water.

  2. Stir till it froths and serve immediately.

  3. 1 cup sherry may be used instead of vanilla, if wine is liked.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

190Calories
7 gProtein
11 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12

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

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

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

  5. Vanilla + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 (in the method)
Provides fat and richness, and creams with the sugar to give the sauce body.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and, creamed with butter, helps form a smooth base.
Egg white
Whipped, it traps air, giving the sauce its light, frothy texture.
Vanilla
Adds aroma and flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites hard until as light as possible. Whipping incorporates air into the egg white proteins, which gives the sauce its lightness. Under-beating leaves it dense, while the air bubbles hold the foam together.

“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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