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 ↓
Champagne Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the flour and cook until it turns dark brown.
Gradually stir in the stock until the mixture is smooth.
Season with salt and pepper.
Remove from heat and stir in the champagne.
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).
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Butter + champagnetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Champagne + peppertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together280 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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 fat for richness and carries the flavour of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a smooth sauce when cooked with the butter.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base that gives the sauce body and savoury flavour.
- Champagne
- Adds acidity and a bright, aromatic lift to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Cooking the flour until dark brown. Cooking the butter and flour together, called a roux, must go far enough to develop colour and nutty flavour, but burning turns it bitter. Stirring steadily over medium heat prevents scorching.
“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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