Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the flour and powdered sugar with a few grains of salt.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture and let it boil for ten minutes.
Cream the butter in a separate bowl and beat the egg lightly.
Add the wine to the hot sauce, then pour it over the egg, butter, and nutmeg.
Beat vigorously until well mixed.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Powdered sugar
- Provides sweetness and body to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as it cooks with the hot water.
- Egg
- Adds richness and helps bind the sauce when beaten into it.
- Butter
- Adds fat, richness and smooth texture to the sauce.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Beat vigorously until well mixed. Flour thickens only when starch granules are fully dispersed and heated. Pouring hot liquid over the egg and butter needs thorough, vigorous beating so the mixture blends evenly and does not form lumps or curdle.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg, butter, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg, butter, wine. 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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