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 ↓
Drawn Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the butter into pieces and mix it with the flour until well combined.
Place the mixture in a double boiler and add the hot water.
Cook
Shake continuously until the butter is completely melted and begins to simmer.
Let it rest until it boils up.
Avoid using too high heat to prevent oiliness, ensure the butter and flour are well mixed to avoid lumps, and do not add too much water to keep it from being thin.
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
- Provides the fat that carries the rich flavor and gives the sauce its smooth, silky texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce slightly and helps keep the butter smooth and less likely to separate.
- Hot water
- Adds moisture so the melted butter becomes a thinner, pourable sauce.
The step that matters
Shaking and heat control while the butter melts. Butter is a mix of fat, water and milk solids. Gentle heat with constant shaking lets these emulsify into a smooth sauce. Too much heat makes the fat separate and the sauce oily.
“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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