Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Melted Butter
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the butter into small pieces and place it in a saucepan.
Add the flour and milk, and mix well.
Stir in the water and hold the saucepan over medium heat.
Keep shaking the saucepan in one direction until it begins to simmer.
Allow it to boil quickly.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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 fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Flour or arrowroot flour
- Starch that swells when heated, thickening the liquid into a sauce.
- Milk
- Adds body and a mild dairy flavour to the liquid.
The step that matters
Keep shaking the saucepan in one direction until it begins to simmer.. Constant movement keeps the flour dispersed in the liquid before its starch heats and swells. Stopping or uneven heat lets lumps form and the bottom scorch, so keeping the mixture in motion gives a smooth, even sauce.
“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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