Why it works: Corn and nutmeg work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 563 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the starch base
Wet corn starch in cold water and stir into boiling water.
Boil for 12 minutes.
Make the butter mixture
In a bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar.
Beat the egg well and add it to the butter and sugar mixture.
Combine and finish
Combine the cooked corn starch with the wine and pour into the butter, sugar, and egg mixture.
Stir until well mixed.
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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Corn + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn starch
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce as it cooks and sets.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and dissolves easily into the creamed butter.
- Egg
- Enriches the sauce and helps bind it into a cohesive mixture.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that give the sauce its distinct flavour.
The step that matters
Boil the cornstarch mixture for the full 12 minutes. Cornstarch only thickens fully once its granules swell and gelatinize with heat. Boiling for the full time ensures the starch is cooked, so it thickens properly and does not taste raw or pasty.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, butter, sugar, egg, wine):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, butter, sugar, egg, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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