Skip to main content
Main

Sorrel Puree, for Garnitures

A savory sorrel puree made with butter, flour, broth, milk, and egg yolks, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Sorrel Puree, for Garnitures

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sorrel

  1. Prepare and wash the sorrel as in the previous recipe.

  2. Put the sorrel in a saucepan with 1 pint of water, season with salt and pepper.

  3. Set on a brisk fire and stir with a wooden spoon until well cooked.

  4. Drain the sorrel in a colander.

  5. Rub it through a fine sieve after 20 minutes.

Make the puree

  1. Melt 4 ounces of butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and cook for 5 minutes, stirring well.

  3. Add the sieved sorrel and moisten with 1 pint of broth.

  4. Cook for 10 minutes.

  5. Stir in 1 cup of milk diluted with the yolks of 3 raw eggs until thoroughly mixed.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Sorrel (in the method)
Provides the main flavour and green colour of the puree as it cooks down.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavour, giving a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
All-purpose flour
Cooked in the butter to form a roux that thickens the puree.
Broth
Moistens the sorrel and forms the liquid base of the puree.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the flavour of the puree.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the puree, adding body and smoothness.

The step that matters

Stirring in the milk and egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated, so if the puree is too hot when they are added they can scramble and turn grainy. Diluting them in milk first and mixing thoroughly helps them blend evenly.

“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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes