A Good White Sauce for Ftsk

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.

1. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together8,400 recipes

   Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together41,516 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

3. Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together8,150 recipes

   Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Clove + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together12,671 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 and richness, and with the flour helps form a smooth, thickened base.

Flour

Thickens the sauce as it cooks, giving it body and a smooth texture.

Cream

Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a softer, creamier texture.

Anchovies

Infuse the simmering water with savoury depth that carries into the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, butter, flour, lemon, cream):

1. Nutmegfits better
2. Cinnamonfits better
3. Cardamomfits better
4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, butter, flour, lemon, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.