Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce base
Mix the flour and powdered sugar with a pinch of salt.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture.
Let the mixture boil for ten minutes.
Finish the sauce
Cream the butter in a separate bowl.
Beat the egg lightly.
Add the wine to the hot sauce.
Pour the mixture over the creamed butter, egg, and nutmeg.
Beat vigorously until well mixed.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Creamed with the sugar base, it adds richness and a smooth body to the sauce.
- Egg
- Beaten in, it enriches the sauce and helps it thicken and hold together.
- Flour
- Cooked with the boiling water, it thickens the sauce to a smooth consistency.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the hot liquid, providing sweetness and body to the sauce.
- Wine
- Added to the hot sauce, it contributes acidity and aroma to the flavor.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling water over the flour and sugar mixture. Flour must be heated in liquid to gelatinize its starch; boiling it well ensures the sauce thickens and loses any raw floury taste.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, wine, sugar, flour, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, wine, sugar, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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