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Sauce

Dutch Sauce for Fish

A sauce for fish made with flour, butter, vinegar, egg yolks, lemon juice, salt, cayenne, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Dutch Sauce for Fish

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Put all the ingredients, except the lemon juice, into a stew-pan.

  2. Set it over the fire, and keep continually stirring.

  3. When it is sufficiently thick, take it off, as it should not boil.

  4. If, however, it happens to curdle, strain the sauce through a tammy, add the lemon juice, and serve.

  5. Tarragon vinegar may be used instead of plain, and, by many, is considered far preferable.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

555Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
101 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

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

  5. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 with gentle heat, giving it body.
Béchamel
Provides a creamy base that gives the sauce body and smoothness.
Flour
Helps stabilise the sauce and adds body to its texture.
Vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the eggs and béchamel.

The step that matters

Keep the sauce from boiling. Egg yolks thicken gently at moderate heat but curdle when they get too hot. Continuous stirring and removing the pan once thick prevents this. If it does curdle, straining through a tammy rescues the texture.

“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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