Why it works: Wine and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,157 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, combine the wine, water, sugar, lemon peel, and lemon juice.
Stir the mixture until it comes to a boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the egg yolks.
Finish
Gently fold in the stiff-beaten egg whites.
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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Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Wine
- Adds the main flavour and acidity to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and helps balance the wine and lemon.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and bright citrus flavour.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce as they set with gentle heat, giving it body.
- Egg whites
- Folded in whipped, they add lightness and an airy texture.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolks off the heat. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can scramble if added to a boiling mixture. Removing the pan from heat before stirring them in lets them thicken the sauce smoothly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Applefits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, sugar, 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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