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 ↓
Melted Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the flour and water to form a smooth batter in a saucepan.
Add the butter and a seasoning of salt.
Stir continuously until the mixture is perfectly smooth.
Let it boil for 1-2 minutes, then serve.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded flavour to the sauce.
- Flour
- Its starch swells as the liquid heats, thickening the sauce and giving it body.
The step that matters
Make the batter smooth before heating. Flour starch mixed into cold liquid disperses evenly when stirred well. Once heated, the starch swells and thickens quickly, so any lumps left in the batter will set in place and be hard to remove.
“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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