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Sauce Piquante

A spicy sauce made with eschalots, flour, gravy, chilies, bay leaf, thyme, black pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and pepper 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 ↓

Sauce Piquante

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat 1½ ounces of butter in a pan and brown lightly a tablespoonful of minced eschalots or three onions.

  2. Add a teaspoonful of flour and stir until partially cooked.

  3. Pour in half a pint of gravy or good broth and bring to a boil.

  4. Add three chilies, a bay leaf, and a small bunch of thyme.

  5. Simmer for twenty minutes.

  6. Remove the thyme and bay leaf, season with black pepper, and add half a wineglassful of vinegar.

  7. Optionally, substitute a quarter teaspoon of cayenne for the chilies.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

474Calories
13 gProtein
2 gFat
98 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3

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

By Eliza Acton. 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. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  2. Flour + thymetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Thyme + vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 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

Eschalots
Browned in butter to build a savoury, aromatic base for the sauce.
Flour
Stirred in to thicken the sauce and give it body.
Gravy
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding savoury flavour.
Chilies
Provide the piquant heat that gives the sauce its character.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens and sharpens the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Simmering after adding the chilies. Simmering for the full time lets the chilies and thyme release their flavour into the liquid. Boiling too hard can reduce the sauce too quickly or make it taste harsh, so keep it at a gentle simmer.

Swap the thyme

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Thymethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, pepper, vinegar. 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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