Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
To Make Roux
Ingredients
Directions
Make the roux
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until it begins to bubble.
Sprinkle in the flour and whisk together until well combined.
Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the flour is lightly cooked but not browned.
Thin and combine
Gradually stir in a portion of your sauce or soup until smooth and thin enough to incorporate into the main dish.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Melts to coat the flour and carry its flavor, forming the base of the roux.
- All-purpose flour
- Starch that thickens the liquid it is later whisked into once cooked with the fat.
The step that matters
Cooking the flour without browning it. Cooking the flour in fat until lightly cooked removes its raw taste and gives it thickening power. Browning changes the color and flavor and weakens thickening, so stir constantly over medium 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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