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Sauce

Roman Sauce I

A sauce made from burnt sugar, vinegar, stock, Espagnole sauce, raisins, and pine nuts or slivered almonds.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and pine work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Roman Sauce I

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix burnt sugar with vinegar and dilute with a little stock.

  2. Add Espagnole sauce, raisins, and pine nuts.

  3. Keep this hot in a bain-marie and serve with cutlets, calf's head, feet, or tongue.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

312Calories
5 gProtein
20 gFat
33 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pine Nut1 oz (28g)191
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Saucenot 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 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. Raisin + pinetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Vinegar + pinetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together268 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

Burnt sugar
Gives the sauce its dark colour and a slightly bitter-sweet caramel flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that cuts the sweetness and richness of the sauce.
Espagnole sauce
Provides the rich brown sauce base that gives body and savoury depth.
Raisins
Add sweetness and soft chewiness that contrasts with the savoury base.
Pine nuts or slivered almonds
Add crunch and a mild nutty flavour.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, sauce, pine):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, sauce, pine. 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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