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Sauce

Brandy Sauce

A light, creamy sauce made with butter, powdered sugar, egg whites, brandy, and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,127 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Brandy Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Cream the butter in a bowl.

  2. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the egg whites one at a time, continuing to beat.

Finish and warm

  1. When ready to serve, mix in the brandy and boiling water.

  2. Place the bowl in a basin of hot water over low heat and stir until light and creamy.

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. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  5. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
Adds fat for richness and a creamy, smooth mouthfeel.
Egg whites
Beaten air bubbles add lightness and an airy texture to the sauce.
Powdered sugar
Provides sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the butter for a fine texture.
Brandy
Contributes the main flavour and aroma of the sauce.

The step that matters

Warming over hot water. Gentle indirect heat warms the sauce and lightens its texture without cooking the egg whites into lumps. Too much heat can make the sauce separate or turn grainy, so keep the bowl over the water rather than on direct heat.

“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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