Why it works: Wine and butter 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, bring the wine to a boil.
In a bowl, mix the beaten egg, sugar, butter, and nutmeg.
Gradually stir the egg mixture into the boiling wine, stirring constantly until thickened.
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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Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
- Wine
- Provides the main liquid, acidity, and flavor of the sauce.
- Egg
- Its proteins set as they heat, thickening the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the wine's tartness.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer, smoother mouthfeel.
- Nutmeg
- Adds a warm, aromatic spice note.
The step that matters
Gradually stir the egg mixture into the boiling wine. Adding the egg slowly while stirring constantly tempers it, spreading the heat so its proteins thicken the sauce smoothly instead of scrambling into lumps.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, egg, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits less well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, egg, sugar, butter. 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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