Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Butter Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a bowl, stir the butter with a fork until it becomes a light cream.
Add the powdered sugar and continue to beat for 1-2 minutes.
Finish and serve
Just before serving, stir in the boiling starch and your choice of flavoring.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + winetop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,435 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Provides richness and a smooth, creamy body that carries the flavor.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the butter for a fine, even texture.
- Starch (flour or corn starch)
- Thickens the sauce as it is stirred in while hot, giving it body.
The step that matters
Stir in the boiling starch just before serving. Starch thickens when heated and hydrated, so adding it at the last moment keeps the sauce from over-thickening or turning gluey while it is still hot and fluid enough to pour.
“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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