Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the egg yolk and season with wine.
Finish and serve
Before serving, add the boiling water and stir well.
Beat the egg white until light and fold it into the 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 + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 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
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, when creamed with butter, helps give body to the sauce.
- Egg yolk
- Its emulsifiers help bind the fat and liquid, adding richness and smoothness.
- Egg white
- Whipped, it traps air that lightens the sauce's texture.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg white. Beaten egg white holds air bubbles that make the sauce light. Stirring it in vigorously knocks out that air, so the sauce turns dense. Fold gently, using a large spatula and a lifting motion, until just combined.
“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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