Why it works: Sauce and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,147 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Puree of Sorrel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sorrel
Wash the sorrel in several waters.
Place the sorrel in a saucepan with the butter.
Cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Drain the sorrel in a sieve and rub it through.
Finish the puree
Add the sauce tournee, glaze, and sugar to the sorrel.
Stir over heat until it boils.
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.
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.
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Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + sorreltop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together652 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sauce + sorreltop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together158 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Sorrel
- Forms the main body of the puree and supplies its tart, green flavour.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel as the sorrel cooks down.
- Sauce tournee
- Thickens the puree so it holds a smooth, spoonable body.
The step that matters
Cooking the sorrel over low heat. Cooking covered over low heat softens the leaves gently and breaks them down without scorching. Stirring occasionally prevents sticking and burning on the base of the pan, which would give the puree a bitter, dull taste.
Swap the sorrel
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Capersfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Sorrelthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, sugar. 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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