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 ↓
Eich Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Beat the butter to a cream.
Gradually beat in the sugar, corn starch, wine, and egg white until frothy.
Stir in the boiling water.
Set the mixture in warm water for two minutes, stirring continuously.
Serve
Serve warm.
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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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
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).
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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
- Creams with the sugar to add richness and a smooth, soft body to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps give it body when beaten with the butter.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it a silky, pourable body.
- Egg white
- Adds foam and lightness when beaten in, making the sauce frothy.
The step that matters
Setting the mixture in warm water. Heat must be gentle and the mixture stirred constantly so the cornstarch thickens evenly without lumps or scorching. Stirring keeps heat distributed and the egg white from setting in clumps.
“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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