Skip to main content
British Sauces

Chestnut Sauce

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Chestnut and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 180 recipes. Both carry maltol, which smells caramel, sweet. The science ↓

Chestnut Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

18Calories
0 gProtein
1 gFat
3 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 6 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Chestnutnot in our table0
Macenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook.

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. Chestnut + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together180 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Chestnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together826 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Chestnut + sherrytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together87 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).

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

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chestnut, sherry, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chestnut, sherry, pepper, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.