Name: White Sauce Foe Fowls
Ingredients: ½ pint cream; 2 tablespoons flour; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 2 tablespoons oyster catsup or cucumber catsup (or a little of both)

Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

White Sauce Foe Fowls

Ingredients

½ pint cream
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons oyster catsup or cucumber catsup (or a little of both)

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the flour and butter to form a paste.
Add the cream and stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens.
Stir in the grated nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and catsup.
Continue to cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

Flour and butter 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

Cream: Provides the liquid and richness that the flour thickens into a smooth sauce.
Flour: Thickens the sauce as its starch swells in the hot liquid, giving body.
Butter: Cooks with the flour to form a paste and adds fat and a rich flavor.
Oyster catsup or cucumber catsup: Adds savory, tangy flavor that seasons the sauce.

The step that matters

Continue to cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Flour needs enough heat and time to fully swell and cook out its raw starch taste. Constant stirring prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pan.

“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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White Sauce Foe Fowls