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Tomato Sauce Piquante

A tomato sauce made with ham, vegetables, wine, vinegar, stock, and Velouté or Espagnole, finished with sugar, lemon juice, and butter.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Tomato Sauce Piquante

Serves 2

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Cut up the ham, onion, carrot, and celery very finely.

  2. Fry them in butter together with the bay leaf, thyme, clove, and peppercorns.

  3. Pour the vinegar over the mixture.

  4. When the liquid is all absorbed, add the Chablis and stock.

  5. Add the tomatoes.

  6. Cook in a covered stew pan.

Strain and finish

  1. Pass through a sieve, ensuring no bay leaf or thyme passes through.

  2. Mix the sauce with an equal quantity of Velouté or Espagnole sauce.

  3. Let it boil.

  4. Pass through a sieve again.

  5. Add the castor sugar, the lemon juice, and butter.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

543Calories
31 gProtein
27 gFat
42 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 14 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Celery + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,193 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the main body, acidity and flavour of the sauce.
Velouté or espagnole sauce
Adds body and thickness, giving the sauce a smoother, richer texture.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the vegetables and tomatoes.
Chablis white wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the reduced base.
Ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour to the base.

The step that matters

Let the vinegar fully absorb before adding the wine and stock. Cooking the vinegar down until the liquid is absorbed mellows its sharpness and concentrates flavour; adding liquid too early leaves the sauce harsh and diluted.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, carrot, celery, thyme, clove, vinegar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, carrot, celery, thyme, clove, vinegar. 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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