Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Allemande Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Melt 1 ounce of butter in a thick saucepan.
Add 1 ounce of flour and stir for 1 minute until bubbling.
Gradually pour in ½ pint of hot broth or white stock while stirring.
Let it boil, then remove from heat and wait 1 minute.
Stir in the yolks of 3 eggs, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
Return to heat, stirring carefully until it reaches boiling point without boiling.
Remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon of butter.
If too thick, add a little more broth or hot water.
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 + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and liquid into a smooth, body-giving sauce base.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the sauce and thicken it gently as it heats, adding richness and body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a glossy finish when stirred in at the end.
The step that matters
Returning the yolks to heat. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat but scramble if they boil. Stirring carefully and stopping at boiling point keeps the sauce smooth and silky.
“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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