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 with the flour until well combined.
Place the mixture in a covered saucepan.
Add the hot water and cover the saucepan.
Cook
Set the saucepan in a larger pan of boiling water.
Shake the saucepan continuously in the same direction until the butter is melted and begins to simmer.
Let it rest until it boils up, avoiding too high heat to prevent oiliness.
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
- Melts into the liquid to give the sauce its rich fat and smooth body.
- Flour
- Thickens the melted butter and water so the sauce holds together rather than separating.
- Hot water
- Forms the liquid base that emulsifies with the butter and carries the flour.
The step that matters
Shaking and gentle heat while the butter melts. Continuous shaking in one direction keeps the butter and water emulsified and the flour dispersed, preventing lumps. Too much heat can split the fat from the liquid, leaving the sauce oily.
“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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