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Sauce

Rich Wine Sauce

A sauce made from butter, powdered sugar, and wine, whipped until smooth and foamy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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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 ↓

Rich Wine Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Cream and sweeten

  1. Beat the butter until creamy.

  2. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until very light.

Add the wine and finish

  1. Slowly add the hot wine, a little at a time.

  2. Place the bowl in a basin of hot water and stir for 2 minutes.

  3. The sauce should be smooth and foamy.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together9,581 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Provides fat and richness, and creaming it traps air for a light, smooth texture.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and body, and dissolves easily into the butter for a smooth sauce.
Wine
Adds liquid and flavor, and its acidity brightens the richness of the butter and sugar.

The step that matters

Slowly add the hot wine, a little at a time. Butter is an emulsion of fat and water. Adding liquid gradually lets it blend in evenly, while adding it all at once can make the mixture separate or turn greasy and grainy.

“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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