Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.
Stir in 2 tablespoons of flour and cook for 3 minutes, stirring continually.
Slowly pour in 1 pint of boiled milk while stirring.
Season with ¼ teaspoon of salt and ⅛ teaspoon of pepper, and cook slowly for 1 minute until smooth.
Add ½ pint of rich cream and cook for 4 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in ½ tablespoon of butter until melted.
Serve
Pour the sauce over the cauliflower.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Adds fat and rich flavour, and forms the base of the roux with the flour.
- Flour
- Its starch thickens the butter and milk mixture into a sauce body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the thickened roux turns into a pourable sauce.
- Rich cream
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and a silkier mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Slowly pour in the milk while stirring. Flour starch needs to be dispersed evenly in the liquid as it is added. Pouring slowly and stirring constantly prevents lumps and gives a smooth sauce.
“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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