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 ↓
Panade or Panada
Ingredients
Directions
Make the panade
Combine water, butter, and salt in a small saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Gradually stir in sifted flour while mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon.
Continue stirring over heat until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Cool
Spread the mixture on a plate and let it cool before using.
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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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
- Flour
- Starch from the flour swells when heated, thickening the mixture and giving it structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat, which gives the panade richness and a softer texture.
The step that matters
Stir continuously while the flour goes in and keep cooking until the mixture pulls from the pan.. Adding flour gradually prevents lumps, and cooking drives off raw flour taste while the starch swells into a smooth, thick paste.
“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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