Why it works: Butter and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,645 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓
Easy Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until light.
Add the eggs and wine, and beat until well combined.
Place the mixture over a double boiler and heat through without boiling.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the butter beat up light and airy.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the sauce a smooth, creamy body.
- Eggs
- Thicken the sauce as they gently set with heat, giving it body.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that flavour the sauce.
The step that matters
Heat through without boiling. Eggs set when heated gently, but boiling can curdle them and make the sauce grainy. A double boiler keeps the heat low and even, so the sauce thickens smoothly.
“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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