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Sauce

Gratin Sauce

A sauce made from Espagnole, mushrooms, shallot, parsley, sherry, glaze, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley 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 ↓

Gratin Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Prepare the Espagnole Sauce and strain it through a tammy.

  2. Add the chopped mushrooms, shallot, parsley, sherry, glaze, and seasonings.

  3. Cook well, and if necessary, reduce the sauce.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 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. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

  5. Sauce + shallottop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Espagnole sauce
Forms the base of the sauce, providing body and savory depth.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavor and moisture that softens and blends into the sauce as it cooks.
Shallot
Adds a mild, sweet onion-like aroma that mellows during cooking.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic complexity that rounds out the sauce.
Glaze
Adds concentrated meat flavor, color and body as it reduces into the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook well and reduce the sauce. Simmering concentrates flavor and thickens the sauce, while the raw shallot and alcohol need enough cooking to lose harshness. Reduce only as needed, since over-reducing makes a sauce too thick and salty.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, shallot, mushroom, sherry):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, shallot, mushroom, sherry. 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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