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Skate Sauce

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Skate Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chop the parsley, green onions, shallots, and pickled mushrooms.

  2. In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and add the chopped ingredients.

  3. Cook gently, then stir in the flour mixed with cream or milk until it thickens.

  4. Sift the sauce and add chopped parsley.

  5. Form small balls from the beef and yolks of the eggs, about the size of a nutmeg.

  6. Before serving, add the balls to the sauce and toss gently.

  7. Fry the bacon sippets until crispy.

  8. Serve the pigeons, pour the sauce over them, and garnish with bacon sippets.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, onion, shallot, mushroom, butter, flour, cream):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, onion, shallot, mushroom, butter, flour, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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