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Sauce

Mirepoix Sauce

A sauce made from bacon, ham, carrot, onions, herbs, mushrooms, cloves, peppercorns, stock, and Chablis wine.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and rosemary match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry 1,8-cineol, which smells eucalyptus, camphor. The science ↓

Mirepoix Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine bacon, ham, carrot, onions, herbs, mushrooms, cloves, and peppercorns in a stew pan.

  2. Add the stock and Chablis.

Reduce and strain

  1. Boil rapidly for 10 minutes, then simmer until it is reduced to a third of its former volume.

  2. Pass through a sieve and use for masking meat, fowl, fish, etc.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

412Calories
35 gProtein
18 gFat
23 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Rosemary1 tsp dried (1.2g)4
Sage1 tsp ground (0.7g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1

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

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Sage + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together465 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).

  2. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Bacon
Adds fat and savoury depth that flavours the reduced stock.
Stock
Forms the liquid base that reduces into the sauce.
Chablis wine
Adds acidity and aromatic complexity to the reduction.
Carrot
Contributes natural sweetness and body to the flavour base.

The step that matters

Simmering to a third of its volume. Reducing concentrates flavours and thickens the liquid. Simmering gently rather than boiling hard keeps the sauce clear and prevents it from turning bitter or scorching as it thickens.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, carrot, parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, mushroom):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, mushroom. 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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