Why it works: Butter and wine 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 ↓
Liquid Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the eggs well in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the butter and sugar until well combined.
Pour the boiling wine into the butter and sugar mixture.
Add the beaten eggs and stir until smooth.
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 + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Thicken the sauce as they set gently with the warm liquid and add richness.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, velvety mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the tartness of the wine.
- Boiling wine
- Provides the main liquid and flavour, and gently warms the butter and sugar.
The step that matters
Adding the beaten eggs. Eggs can scramble if they meet very hot liquid directly. Stir the hot wine mixture steadily as the eggs go in, so they blend smoothly and thicken gently instead of curdling.
“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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