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 ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cream the butter in a bowl until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar and cream together until well combined.
Heat the wine in a saucepan until warm.
Slowly add the warm wine to the butter and sugar mixture, stirring continuously.
Cook the mixture over boiling water for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
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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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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
- Butter
- Provides richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves into the butter for a smooth texture.
- Wine
- Supplies the liquid and adds flavor and acidity to the sauce.
The step that matters
Slowly add the warm wine. Adding the liquid gradually while stirring lets it blend into the butter and sugar without the mixture separating or turning grainy. Pouring it in all at once can break the emulsion of fat and liquid.
“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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