Why it works: Sherry and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 660 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓
Wine Whey
Ingredients
Directions
Bring 1 cup of fresh milk to a boil.
Stir in ½ cup of sherry wine and boil for a moment, then strain.
For milk whey, boil 1 cup of sweet milk.
Stir in 1 tablespoon of vinegar; if it doesn't curdle, add a little more vinegar.
Once it curdles, strain.
To make milk whey, add 1 cup of sour milk to the boiling sweet milk and strain.
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 + vinegartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together660 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,493 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Milk + winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,116 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (fenugreek, curry).
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Milk + vinegartop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,949 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Provides the protein that curdles and separates into curds and clear whey.
- Sherry wine
- Acidifies the boiling milk so it curdles, separating the whey.
- Vinegar
- Acidifies the boiling milk so it curdles, separating the whey.
- Sour milk
- Already acidic, so it curdles the boiling sweet milk and separates the whey.
The step that matters
Adding the acid to the boiling milk. Too little acid leaves the milk uncurdled, so the cook adds more vinegar in small amounts while watching for curds. Too much acid can make the curds grainy and sour the whey, so the amount should be added gradually.
“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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