Wine Sauce

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. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together18,623 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

5. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together24,377 recipes

   Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.

Sugar

Creams with the butter and adds sweetness to the sauce.

Starch

Thickens the sauce as it is stirred in while boiling hot.

Wine or brandy

Adds aroma and a layer of flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, wine):

1. Cinnamonfits better
2. Jalapenofits about as well
3. Nutmegthe original
4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.