Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
White Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the sugar and egg yolk together until well combined.
Add the boiling milk and mix thoroughly.
Gently fold in the beaten egg white until just combined.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk 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
- Egg yolk
- Thickens the sauce and adds richness as it blends with the milk.
- Egg white
- Adds lightness and airiness when folded in gently.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps blend it with the egg yolk.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base, and its heat gently warms the egg yolk mixture.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the beaten egg white. Folding rather than stirring keeps the whipped egg white's air trapped, so the sauce stays light. Overmixing deflates the foam and makes the sauce dense.
“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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