Name: Universal Sauces
Ingredients: ½ ounce black pepper; ½ ounce pounded allspice; 1 ounce coarse sea salt; ½ ounce minced shallot; 1 pint mushroom catsup; 1 tablespoon port wine; 1 teaspoon chili vinegar

Why it works: Shallot and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Universal Sauces

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

Combine black pepper, allspice, salt, minced shallot, mushroom catsup, port wine, and chili vinegar in a bottle.
Set the bottle in a warm place (about 90°F or 32°C) for 24 hours.
Let it stand for a week, then strain and bottle the mixture.

Serve

Use a spoonful mixed with gravy for cutlets.

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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + shallottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together386 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + port winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together380 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Mushroom + port winetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together570 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Mushroom catsup: Provides the main liquid base and savory, umami depth of the sauce.
Minced shallot: Adds mild aromatic sharpness that mellows as the sauce steeps.
Chili vinegar: Contributes acidity and heat that help preserve and brighten the sauce.
Black pepper: Supplies pungent, spicy aroma and bite throughout the sauce.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, shallot, mushroom, port wine, vinegar):

Thymefits better
Tarragonfits better
Marjoramfits better
Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, shallot, mushroom, port wine, vinegar. 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.