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Sauce

Plain Sauce

A sweet molasses-based sauce flavored with spices and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Plain Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix together the molasses, brown sugar, butter, flour, and spices.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and add the boiling water.

  3. Stir well and let it boil until clear.

  4. Strain the sauce and add the lemon juice.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Provides the dark color and deep, rich sweetness that defines the sauce.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and body, with extra molasses-like flavor to the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rounded mouthfeel and richer flavor.
Flour
Thickens the sauce as it cooks, giving it a smoother, more body.

The step that matters

Letting the sauce boil until clear. Flour needs to boil to fully thicken and lose its raw starch taste. Stopping early leaves the sauce thin and floury. Stir often so the flour does not clump or scorch on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, clove, nutmeg. 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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