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Plum-pudding Sauce

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Ketchup and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,099 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, tree nuts, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

  1. 499. INGREDIENTS.--1 wineglassful of brandy, 2 oz. of very fresh butter, 1 glass of Madeira, pounded sugar to taste.

  2. _Mode_.--Put the pounded sugar in a basin, with part of the brandy and the butter; let it stand by the side of the fire until it is warm and the sugar and butter are dissolved; then add the rest of the brandy, with the Madeira. Either pour it over the pudding, or serve in a tureen. This is a very rich and excellent sauce.

  3. _Average cost_, 1s. 3d. for this quantity.

  4. _Sufficient_ for a pudding made for 6 persons.

  5. QUIN'S SAUCE, an excellent Fish Sauce.

  6. 500. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 pint of walnut pickle, 1/2 pint of port wine, 1 pint of mushroom ketchup, 1 dozen anchovies, 1 dozen shalots, 1/4 pint of soy, 1/2 teaspoonful of cayenne.

  7. _Mode_.--Put all the ingredients into a saucepan, having previously chopped the shalots and anchovies very small; simmer for 15 minutes, strain, and, when cold, bottle off for use: the corks should be well sealed to exclude the air.

  8. _Time_.--1/4 hour.

  9. _Seasonable_ at any time.

  10. RAVIGOTTE, a French Salad Sauce.

  11. _Mons. Ude's Recipe_.

  12. 501. INGREDIENTS.--1 teaspoonful of mushroom ketchup, 1 teaspoonful of cavice, 1 teaspoonful of Chili vinegar, 1 teaspoonful of Reading sauce, a piece of butter the size of an egg, 3 tablespoonfuls of thick Béchamel, No. 367, 1 tablespoonful of minced parsley, 3 tablespoonfuls of cream; salt and pepper to taste.

  13. _Mode_.--Scald the parsley, mince the leaves very fine, and add it to all the other ingredients; after mixing the whole together thoroughly, the sauce will be ready for use.

  14. _Average cost_, for this quantity, 10d.

  15. _Seasonable_ at any time.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Ketchup + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Brandy + port winetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Port wine + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Port wine + vinegartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Walnut + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together865 recipes

    Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, walnut, port wine, mushroom, ketchup, vinegar, sauce):

  1. Celerybetter flavor fit
  2. Clovebetter flavor fit
  3. Allspicebetter flavor fit
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, walnut, port wine, mushroom, ketchup, vinegar, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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