Why it works: Butter and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,083 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Beat the butter until frothy.
Boil the white wine and water together.
Pour the boiling mixture over the butter and sugar, stirring briskly.
Flavor and serve
Add grated nutmeg or essence of lemon to the sauce dish.
Serve immediately.
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 + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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White wine + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,659 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 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
- Beaten until frothy, it adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.
- Fine powdered sugar
- Dissolves readily into the warm liquid, adding sweetness and a silky texture.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth, and its liquid helps loosen the sauce.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling liquid over the butter and sugar. The hot liquid must be added while stirring briskly so the butter and sugar blend evenly; if it is poured in slowly or not stirred, the sauce can separate or stay grainy.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, white wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, white 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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