Why it works: Flour and arrowroot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 525 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.
Stir in flour to create a roux, mixing quickly.
Gradually add boiling gravy or liquid in small amounts, shaking the saucepan often.
Allow the sauce to come to a boil after each addition.
For a butter-free option, mix flour or arrowroot with boiling liquid instead.
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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Flour + arrowroottop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together525 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + arrowroottop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together610 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
Swap the arrowroot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Arrowrootthe original
- Chivefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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