Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the beaten egg yolk and mix well.
Gently fold in the beaten egg white.
Heat and finish
Melt the mixture over a tea kettle.
Stir in the wine and serve.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps the butter cream into a smooth, light base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a creamy texture that carries the other ingredients.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps bind the butter and sugar into a smooth emulsion.
- Egg white
- Folded in whole, it adds lightness to the sauce's texture.
- Wine
- Gives the sauce its main flavour and a touch of acidity.
The step that matters
Melt the mixture over a tea kettle. Egg yolks and whites thicken and can scramble if overheated. Gentle, indirect heat from the steam warms the mixture slowly so it stays smooth and creamy.
“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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