Drawn Butter

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. Cucumber + minttop 5% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together884 recipes

   Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

2. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together4,734 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Flour + cucumbertop 13% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together2,067 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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 fat, richness and a rounded buttery flavor to the sauce.

Flour

Starch that thickens the liquid once it is hydrated by the hot water.

Boiling water

Hydrates the flour starch and turns the mixture into a thickened sauce.

The step that matters

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, cucumber, egg, vinegar, sugar, veal):

1. Capersfits better
2. Tarragonfits better
3. Cinnamonfits better
4. Mintthe original

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