Why it works: Wine and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the butter until creamy.
Add the egg yolks, sugar, wine, and brandy.
Place the mixture over heat, stirring constantly.
Once it reaches a boil, remove it from the heat.
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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Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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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 + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce as they heat and set into a smooth, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and balances the acidity of the wine.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and flavor that cuts through the richness of the yolks and butter.
- Brandy
- Adds aromatic depth and flavor to the sauce.
The step that matters
Once it reaches a boil, remove it from the heat.. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heating, but if they get too hot they can scramble and curdle. Stirring constantly and pulling the pan off the heat at the boil helps keep the sauce smooth.
“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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