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Sauce

German Sauce

A velouté-based sauce with mushrooms, truffles, egg yolks, cream, butter, and nutmeg, simmered until thickened.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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German Sauce

Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

German Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Pour the velouté and jelly broth into a stewpan with mushroom and truffle parings.

  2. Place on high heat and stir until it boils.

  3. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 1 hour.

  4. Remove fat and return to heat, stirring continuously until thickened to a jelly-like consistency.

Finish the sauce

  1. Mix egg yolks and cream, strain, and add to the sauce with butter, stirring well.

  2. Put on moderate heat and stir until it begins to boil, then remove from heat.

  3. Add an equal amount of butter and a little nutmeg, stirring to combine.

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.

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.

  1. Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Velouté
Forms the thick base that the sauce is built on.
Jelly broth of poultry
Adds body and savoury depth, and sets to a jelly-like texture when reduced.
Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce as they heat and give it richness.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
Butter
Adds fat for a glossy finish and a rounded, rich flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk and cream mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can scramble if the sauce is too hot. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly so the sauce thickens smoothly without curdling.

“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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