Why it works: Milk and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Wine Whey
Ingredients
Directions
Make the whey
Boil 1 pint of milk.
Remove from heat and add 2 glasses of wine.
Let it sit for a few minutes.
Strain and sweeten
Strain through muslin or a fine sieve.
Sweeten with loaf sugar to taste.
Add hot water if the mixture is too strong.
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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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Wine + milktop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,116 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (fenugreek, curry).
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Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Milk
- Its proteins curdle and separate into solids when acid is added, leaving the thin liquid whey.
- Wine
- Its acidity causes the milk proteins to coagulate, separating curds from the clear whey.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness, added to taste.
The step that matters
Add the wine off the heat and let it sit. Acid makes milk proteins clump into curds that separate from the liquid. Adding wine to milk that is still boiling can make the curds form unevenly, so removing the pan from the heat first gives a clearer separation.
“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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