Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Mix the flour and powdered sugar with a few grains of salt.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture and let it boil for ten minutes.
Finish the sauce
Cream the butter and beat the egg lightly.
Add the wine to the hot sauce and pour it over the egg, butter, and nutmeg.
Beat vigorously until well mixed.
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.
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.
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as it cooks in the boiling water.
- Egg
- Enriches the sauce and adds body as it mixes into the hot liquid.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot sauce over the egg and beating vigorously. Hot liquid can set egg proteins too quickly and leave lumps or bits of cooked egg. Pouring slowly and beating hard spreads the heat evenly so the egg blends smoothly into the sauce.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg, wine. 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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