Why it works: Celery and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Currant Jelly Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Cook the butter and onion until the latter begins to color.
Add the flour and herbs.
Stir until brown; add the stock, and simmer twenty minutes.
Strain and skim off all the fat.
Finish and serve
Add the jelly and stir over the fire until it is melted.
Serve with game.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Bay Leaf | 1 leaf (0.6g) | 2 |
| Currant | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Vinegar + curranttop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together693 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Carries the onion flavor and forms the base of the roux with flour.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked with the butter and stock.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid body of the sauce, which is simmered and reduced.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and fruity flavor, and melts into the sauce to finish it.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the sweetness of the currant jelly.
The step that matters
Stir the flour until brown. Flour browned in butter gives the sauce its color and nutty flavor, but it scorches easily over direct heat. Stir constantly and watch closely, since burnt flour turns the sauce bitter.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, celery, vinegar, flour, onion):
- Avocadofits better
- Lemonfits better
- Limefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, celery, vinegar, flour, onion. 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.
You might also like
Wine Sauce (for stewed fruit)186 recipes
Caper Sauce180 recipes
Brown Sauce141 recipes
Dutch Sauce74 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.