Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Bechamel Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the flour mixed with salt, pepper, and nutmeg; stir to a smooth paste and cook for one minute.
Gradually add the hot chicken stock while stirring constantly.
Add the hot cream and continue stirring.
Finish with egg yolks
Beat the egg yolks slightly and dilute with some of the hot sauce.
Combine the mixtures and beat again, but do not allow the sauce to boil after adding the egg yolks.
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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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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 sauce as it cooks with the butter into a smooth paste.
- Butter
- Forms the fat base that the flour is cooked into to make the roux.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the sauce, adding body and a smooth, rich texture.
- Thin cream
- Adds richness and body, giving the sauce a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Do not let the sauce boil after adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks contain proteins that set when heated. Boiling after they are added can curdle the sauce and make it grainy, so the sauce must stay hot but not boiling.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, chicken, butter, pepper, flour, egg):
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Turmericfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, chicken, butter, pepper, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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