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Sauce

Sharp, for Venison

A vinegar and sugar reduction used as a sharp sauce for venison.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,776 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Sharp, for Venison

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a clean saucepan, combine the white wine vinegar and loaf sugar.

  2. Set the saucepan over medium heat and let it simmer gently.

  3. Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.

Strain

  1. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve into a basin.

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. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

White wine vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the sauce.
Loaf sugar
Provides sweetness and, as it dissolves and simmers, helps build a syrupy body.

The step that matters

Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface. Impurities that rise while the mixture simmers can cloud the sauce and spoil its flavour if left in. Removing them as they form keeps the liquid clear and clean-tasting before it is strained.

“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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