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Sauce

Torture Sauce

A savoury sauce made from veal stock, mixed herbs, mushroom parings, half-glaze, tomato sauce, sherry and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Torture Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the infusion

  1. Boil veal stock with sage, marjoram, rosemary, basil, thyme, bay, mushroom parings, and parsley.

  2. Cover and infuse for 30 minutes.

  3. Two minutes before straining, add crushed peppercorns.

  4. Strain through fine linen.

Finish the sauce

  1. Add half-glaze, tomato sauce, sherry, truffle essence, and cayenne.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Sage + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together465 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).

  4. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Rosemary + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal stock
Provides the savoury meat base and body that the whole sauce is built on.
Half-glaze
Adds concentrated meaty flavour and body from reduced stock and gelatin.
Tomato sauce
Adds acidity, savoury sweetness and a richer red colour to the sauce.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic depth as its flavour carries through the sauce.
Mushroom parings
Contributes earthy, savoury umami flavour during the infusion.

The step that matters

Adding the crushed peppercorns two minutes before straining. Peppercorns release their aromatic oils and sharp heat quickly. A short contact time gives a clean pepper note, while a longer boil can make the flavour harsh and bitter.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, sage, marjoram, rosemary, basil, thyme, mushroom):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, sage, marjoram, rosemary, basil, thyme, mushroom. 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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