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 ↓
Roux for Sauces
Ingredients
Directions
Make the roux
Add one tablespoonful of butter and one tablespoonful of flour.
Cook the butter and flour together for about five minutes, or until the flour has lost its raw taste.
If making a white sauce, avoid letting the flour color.
If making a brown sauce, cook until brown, but watch to prevent burning.
If more flavor is desired, fry a few slices of onion or other vegetables in the butter before adding the flour.
Do not use more butter than flour when making roux.
Add the liquid
Move the saucepan to a cooler part of the range and add the liquor slowly, in the proportion of one cupful of liquor to one tablespoonful of butter and one tablespoonful of flour, stirring until smooth.
If additional butter is needed in the sauce, add it in small pieces after the other ingredients are mixed with the roux.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Liquor | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Melts with the flour to form the base that thickens the liquid and adds richness.
- Flour
- Its starch swells in the hot fat and liquid, thickening the sauce.
- Liquor
- Is the liquid that the roux thickens into a smooth sauce.
The step that matters
Cook the butter and flour until the raw taste is gone. Flour starch thickens best once cooked; undercooked roux tastes pasty and raw, while overcooking changes color and can scorch, so cook gently and watch closely.
“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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