Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 9,075 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Red Wine Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
Add the egg whites and mix well without beating them first.
Mix in the baking powder, then add the flour, milk, brandy, and raisins.
Steam and serve
Steam the mixture in molds for 1½ to 2 hours.
Serve with a sauce made from lemon and red wine.
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 + raisintop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Brandy + raisintop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,768 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and give a rich, tender crumb.
- Granulated sugar
- Creams with butter and adds sweetness and a tender texture.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and help the cake set as it steams.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to help the cake rise and become light.
- Sultana raisins
- Add chewy texture and sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Adding the egg whites. The record says to add the egg whites without beating them first, so they blend in gently. Whipping them could over-aerate the batter and make the texture uneven. Mixing well keeps the batter smooth and evenly textured.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, brandy, raisin):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Figbetter flavor fit
- Apricotabout as good a flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, brandy, raisin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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