Why it works: Sherry and arrowroot work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 129 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Thicken the sauce
Mix the arrowroot with the cold water to form a smooth paste.
Gradually pour in the boiling water while stirring well.
Transfer the mixture to a saucepan, add the sherry, and boil for one minute.
Finish and serve
Sweeten to taste and serve.
Optionally, add a few drops of cochineal for color.
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 + arrowroottop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together129 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Sugar + arrowroottop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,073 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Arrowroot
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth, glossy sauce as its starch heats.
- Sherry
- Adds the main wine flavor and aroma to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the wine.
The step that matters
Pour in the boiling water gradually while stirring. Starch granules clump when they meet hot liquid unevenly. Adding the water slowly while stirring keeps the arrowroot paste smooth and lump-free as it thickens.
Swap the arrowroot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, sugar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Arrowrootthe original
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Mustardfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, 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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