Why it works: Sherry and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,479 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓
Wine Whey
Ingredients
Directions
Scald the milk in a saucepan.
Just before it comes to a boil, stir in the sherry.
Allow the curd to separate.
Strain the mixture to collect the whey.
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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Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Provides the proteins that curdle when acid is added, forming the curd and leaving the whey.
- Sherry
- Its acidity curdles the milk proteins, separating curds from the liquid whey and adding a wine flavour.
The step that matters
Stirring in the sherry just before the boil. Adding the acid while the milk is hot but not boiling curdles the proteins cleanly. If the milk boils first, the curds can turn tough and separate poorly, and the whey may look cloudy.
“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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