Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 124,287 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Brown Sauce for Meats
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Put the clear soup in a saucepan over hot water.
Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
While boiling, rub together the browned flour and butter.
Stir the flour and butter mixture into the soup until it thickens.
Serve
Serve immediately, adding sherry or Madeira wine if desired.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + sherrytop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sherrytop 20% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,643 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Clear soup
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce.
- Browned flour
- Thickens the soup and adds a toasted, nutty flavor.
- Butter
- Combines with the flour to help it blend smoothly and adds richness.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour and butter into the soup. Flour thickens liquid only when its starch is dispersed evenly. Rubbing it with butter first and then stirring it in gradually helps prevent lumps, which form when flour clumps in hot liquid.
“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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