Name: A Sauce for Cold Meats
Ingredients: three eggs; one large wine-glass of acid jelly into the ejigs; one table-spoonful butter; one half tea-cupful vinegar

Why it works: Wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,493 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

A Sauce for Cold Meats

Ingredients

three eggs
one large wine-glass of acid jelly into the ejigs
one table-spoonful butter
one half tea-cupful vinegar

Directions

Prepare

Beat three eggs, leaving out one of the whites.
Cut up one large wine-glass of acid jelly into the eggs.

Make the sauce

Mix a tablespoonful of flour and mustard with a little vinegar, one tablespoonful butter, and one half teacupful vinegar.
Boil the whole mixture, stirring all the time until it becomes thick.
After cooling, chop up a green cucumber pickle very fine, and mix with it.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

183Calories

6 gProtein

17 gFat

1 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3

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

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. See the original page.

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.

Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,493 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Wine + teatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together181 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + teatop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together703 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Thicken the sauce as they set when heated and add richness.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a smoother mouthfeel.
Vinegar: Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the eggs and butter.

The step that matters

Boil the whole mixture, stirring all the time until it becomes thick.. Egg proteins set when heated, so if the mixture boils unevenly or is not stirred constantly, it can curdle or scorch on the bottom before it thickens smoothly.

“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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A Sauce for Cold Meats