Why it works: Butter and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,645 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, combine sugar and butter.
Slowly pour boiling water over the mixture.
When ready to serve, add currant wine.
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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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Currant + winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,323 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and body to the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Currant wine
- Adds acidity and fruity aroma to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the currant wine at the end. Wine is added only when serving so its aroma and bright acidity stay fresh. Heat and long cooking would drive off volatile aroma compounds and mellow the flavour.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, wine):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Applefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, 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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