Name: Turkey, Devil Of, with Sauce
Ingredients: 4 shallots or young onions, finely minced; ½ cup good vinegar; ⅓ cup strong gravy; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; ½ cup wine; small piece of anchovy butter or 6-8 drops essence of anchovy; small lump of butter

Why it works: Shallot and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,898 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Turkey, Devil Of, with Sauce

Ingredients

4 shallots or young onions, finely minced
½ cup good vinegar
⅓ cup strong gravy
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ cup wine
small piece of anchovy butter or 6-8 drops essence of anchovy
small lump of butter

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine minced shallots or onions with vinegar to moisten.
Simmer gently until soft.
Add strong gravy, cayenne pepper, wine, and anchovy butter or essence.
Strain the mixture and stir in a small lump of butter.
Boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes longer and serve.

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.

Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,898 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,374 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,493 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,697 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, wine, anchovy, butter):

Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits about as well
Shallotthe original
Mustardfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, wine, anchovy, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.