Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
White Sauce for Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Beat the egg whites and sugar together until well combined.
Add the vinegar and beat well.
Stir in the wine.
Finish and serve
Just before serving, fold in the sweet cream or milk.
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.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,493 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Wine + creamtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,887 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that gives the sauce its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps stabilize the beaten egg white foam.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that helps stabilize the egg white foam and sharpen flavor.
- Wine
- Adds aroma and flavor to the sauce.
- Sweet cream or milk
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the sauce's texture.
The step that matters
Fold in the cream or milk just before serving. Egg-white foam slowly deflates and overmixing knocks out air. Folling the cream in gently and at the last moment keeps the sauce light instead of loose and flat.
“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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