Wine Sauce

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.

1. Sherry + lemontop 17% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together3,273 recipes

   Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

2. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together53,532 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

3. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together44,316 recipes

   Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together122,807 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

5. Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together4,141 recipes

   Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Egg yolks

Thicken the sauce as they set gently with heat, giving it a smooth, rich body.

Sherry

Adds its wine flavour and acidity to balance the sweetness of the sauce.

Sugar

Sweetens the sauce and balances the acidity of the sherry and lemon.

The step that matters

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, egg, sugar):

1. Vanillafits better
2. Figfits better
3. Pineapplefits better
4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.