Why it works: Butter and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,345 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Velvet Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce base
Beat the butter until creamy.
Add the powdered sugar and continue to beat for 2 to 3 minutes.
Cook the thickener
When the water boils, stir in the corn-starch blended with a little cold water.
Stir and boil for 2 to 3 minutes until transparent.
Combine and serve
Just before serving, stir this mixture into the butter and sugar, and flavor with your choice of brandy, rum, maraschino, lemon juice, or vanilla extract.
Serve hot.
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 + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Corn + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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 richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves smoothly into the creamed butter.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the boiling water into a clear, glossy gel that gives the sauce body.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the corn-starch so it can gelatinize and thicken the sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring and boiling the corn-starch until transparent. Corn-starch only thickens fully when it reaches a boil and gelatinizes; undercooked starch leaves a pasty, cloudy texture and a raw taste.
“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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