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Sauce

French Sauce

A sauce made from butter, vegetables, vinegar, wheatmeal, and seasonings, simmered and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and thyme are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

French Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Chop the vegetables finely.

  2. Fry the chopped vegetables in butter, adding thyme.

  3. When slightly browned, add 3/4 pint of water, into which the wheatmeal has been rubbed smooth.

  4. Stir the sauce until it boils, then add vinegar and seasoning.

  5. Let all simmer for 1/2 an hour.

Finish and serve

  1. Rub the sauce through a sieve.

  2. Return it to the saucepan, boil up, and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

13Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
2 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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.

By T. R. Allinson. 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. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + thymetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Allinson fine wheatmeal
Thickens the water into a smooth sauce as it cooks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the sauce.
Butter (in the method)
Fat for frying the vegetables, adding richness and browning.

The step that matters

Rubbing the wheatmeal into the water until smooth. If the flour is added without being rubbed smooth into the water first, it forms lumps that do not dissolve during simmering, leaving a grainy sauce.

Swap the thyme

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Thymethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper. 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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