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Sauce

Bordeaux Sauce

A fermented cabbage and tomato sauce seasoned with spices, vinegar, and optional horseradish and cauliflower.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Bordeaux Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the cabbage, green tomatoes, onions, celery seed, allspice, black pepper, cloves, ginger, mustard seed, salt, sugar, and vinegar in a large pot, then mix well and bring to a boil.

  2. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes.

  3. Add horseradish and cauliflower for extra flavor, if desired.

  4. Stir in turmeric powder if you wish.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the sauce and gives it body as it cooks down.
Green tomatoes
Provide acidity and pectin that help the sauce thicken as it simmers.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and bulk to the sauce as they soften.
Vinegar
Provides sharp acidity that balances the sugar and preserves the sauce.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that rounds out the sharp vinegar and spices.
Mustard seed
Contributes pungent, sharp flavor that deepens during simmering.

The step that matters

Boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Simmering long enough softens the vegetables and lets the vinegar mellow and the flavors meld. Stopping too early leaves the sauce sharp and the vegetables firm, while over-boiling can reduce the volume and make it overly thick.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, tomato, celery, allspice, pepper, clove, ginger):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, tomato, celery, allspice, pepper, clove, ginger. 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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