Why it works: Shallot and anchovy match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 488 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: tree nuts, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the base
Combine bruised shallots and walnut pickle in a large earthen jar.
Place jar in a 400°F (200°C) oven and boil until reduced to 2 pints.
Make the sauce
Mix water, Indian soy, pounded anchovy, black pepper, ginger, mustard seed, and cayenne in another jar.
Place jar in oven and boil for 1 hour.
Pour contents of first jar into second jar.
Stir mixture well.
Boil mixture for 30 minutes.
Cover jar tightly and let stand in a cool place overnight.
Infuse, strain and bottle
Add dried bay leaves to sauce and let infuse for 1 week.
Strain sauce through a jelly bag.
Transfer liquid into small bottles, cork tightly, and store.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Shallot + anchovytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together488 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Shallot + mustardtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together842 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Pepper + gingertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,799 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Shallot + gingertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together565 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Pepper + mustardtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,427 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Walnut pickle
- Provides the main deep, dark flavour base of the sauce.
- Indian soy
- Adds salty, savoury depth that rounds out the sauce.
- Anchovy
- Contributes a savoury, umami-rich background flavour.
- Mustard seed
- Adds pungency and sharp heat that mellows during long cooking.
- Shallots
- Contribute aromatic sweetness and body as they reduce with the pickle.
The step that matters
Boil the walnut pickle and shallots down to 2 pints. Reducing concentrates the flavour and sugars of the pickle and shallots. Stopping at the right volume sets the sauce's strength, so it should be watched rather than rushed.
Flavor stand-ins for the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, anchovy, pepper, ginger, mustard):
- Beansabout as good a flavor fit
- Sesameabout as good a flavor fit
- Chickpeaabout as good a flavor fit
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, anchovy, pepper, ginger, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.