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 ↓
Drawn Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the butter into pieces and mix it with the flour until well combined.
Place the mixture in a covered saucepan.
Add the hot water and cover the saucepan.
Melt and simmer
Set the saucepan in a larger pan filled with boiling water.
Shake the saucepan continuously in the same direction until the butter melts and begins to simmer.
Let it rest until it boils up, avoiding high heat to prevent oiliness.
Ensure the butter and flour are well mixed to avoid lumps, and do not add too much water.
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
- Butter
- Provides the fat and rich flavor that form the body of the sauce.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens slightly and helps keep the butter from separating into oil.
The step that matters
Melting and simmering over gentle heat. Butter is an emulsion of fat, water and milk solids. High heat breaks it apart, so the fat separates and the sauce turns oily. Gentle, steady heat with constant shaking keeps it smooth and combined.
“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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