Why it works: Arrowroot and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 553 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Wine Sauce, No. 2
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the water with the lemon peel for five minutes.
Remove the peel and add the sugar to the water.
Mix the arrowroot with 1 tablespoon of cold water and stir into the boiling syrup.
Add the butter in small pieces.
Finally, stir in the sherry and brandy.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Arrowroot + lemontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together553 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Sherry + arrowroottop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together129 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
-
Brandy + buttertop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Arrowroot
- Thickens the liquid into a glossy sauce as it heats.
- Sherry
- Adds wine flavour and acidity to the sauce.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and depth of flavour to the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and balances the sherry and brandy.
The step that matters
Mix the arrowroot with cold water before stirring it in. Arrowroot added as dry powder clumps and stays lumpy. Mixing it with cold water first lets the starch disperse evenly, so it thickens smoothly when it meets the boiling syrup.
Flavor stand-ins for the arrowroot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, sugar, brandy, butter, lemon):
- Arrowrootthe original
- Shallotabout as good a flavor fit
- Sweet potatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, sugar, brandy, butter, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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