Why it works: Milk and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Wine Whey
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curds
Heat the milk in a saucepan until it boils.
Immediately add the wine and powdered sugar, stirring gently.
Allow the mixture to boil until curds form.
Set aside until the curds settle.
Finish the whey
Pour off the whey and add boiling water.
Sweeten with loaf sugar to taste.
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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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,116 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (fenugreek, curry).
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Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Milk
- Provides the proteins that separate into curds when acid is added and heated.
- Wine
- Adds acidity that causes the milk proteins to curdle, separating solids from liquid whey.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness to the curds and whey mixture.
The step that matters
Allow the mixture to boil until curds form. The milk must be heated enough for the acid from the wine to fully curdle the proteins. Stirring gently keeps the curds from breaking into fine pieces, so the whey stays clearer when poured off.
“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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