Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Sweet Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Stir in the condensed milk and add sugar if needed.
Flavor with a little lemon rind.
When hot, add the sherry and brandy.
Serve
Serve with boiled plum pudding or any other pudding.
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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Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Condensed milk + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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 mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Condensed milk
- Supplies sweetness and a creamy body to the sauce.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and a warm, nutty depth of flavour.
- Brandy
- Adds fruity aroma and warmth that lifts the sweetness.
The step that matters
Add the sherry and brandy when the sauce is hot. Alcohol evaporates readily at high heat, so prolonged boiling drives off much of the sherry and brandy aroma and flavour.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sherry, condensed milk, brandy, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Bananafits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sherry, condensed milk, brandy, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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