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
Mix the butter and flour to a smooth paste in a bowl.
Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water.
Gradually add the boiling water while stirring until it thickens.
Add the salt and remove from heat.
Use immediately.
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
- Provides fat and rich flavour, forming the body of the sauce once melted.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter as it cooks, giving the sauce body and a smooth texture.
The step that matters
Gradually adding the boiling water while stirring. Adding the water slowly while stirring keeps the flour mixture smooth and prevents lumps, so the sauce thickens evenly.
“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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