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 ↓
Extra Nice Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Beat the butter and sugar together until well combined.
Add the eggs and beat for a while until smooth.
Place the mixture in a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water.
Stir in the sherry wine and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
Serve
Serve warm over pudding.
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.
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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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, when beaten with butter, helps build a smooth base.
- Eggs
- Thicken the sauce as they gently heat, giving it body.
- Sherry wine
- Adds its distinctive aroma and flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Cook over gentle heat, stirring often. Eggs thicken as they warm but can scramble if overheated. Setting the bowl over simmering water and stirring keeps the heat gentle and even, so the sauce becomes smooth and thick.
“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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