Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Mix the flour and butter together.
Pour in the boiling water and let it boil for a few minutes.
Add the sugar and Madeira wine.
Finish and serve
Just before serving, add the grated nutmeg.
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.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells and sets in the hot liquid.
- Butter
- Mixed with the flour to coat the starch and add richness.
- Boiling water
- Forms the liquid base and provides the moisture for the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the wine.
- Madeira wine
- Adds its own flavor and acidity to the sauce.
- Nutmeg
- Adds a warm, aromatic flavor added at the end.
The step that matters
Pour in the boiling water and let it boil for a few minutes.. Starch from the flour only thickens fully when it reaches a boil and is held there briefly. Stopping early can leave the sauce thin and floury-tasting.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, madeira wine, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Thymefits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, madeira wine, sugar. 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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