Why it works: Butter and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,645 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cornstarch base
Wet the cornstarch in cold water and stir it into the boiling water.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Make the sauce
Rub the butter to a cream, then gradually add the powdered sugar.
Add the well-beaten egg and nutmeg to the butter mixture.
After 10 minutes of cooking the cornstarch, add the wine and pour the mixture into the butter, sugar, and egg mixture, stirring until well mixed.
For a variation, melt ½ cup of jelly in ½ cup of boiling water and pour it into the butter and sugar mixture.
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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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce as it cooks in the boiling water.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a creamy body to the sauce.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the creamed butter.
- Egg
- Enriches the sauce and helps bind it into a smooth, cohesive texture.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and flavor to balance the sweetness of the sauce.
The step that matters
Add the wine-cornstarch mixture gradually while stirring. Cornstarch thickens only once it has been boiled, and pouring it into the butter mixture while stirring keeps it evenly distributed, preventing lumps and a grainy or uneven texture in the finished sauce.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits less well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, 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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