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Sauce

Poivrade Sauce

A French sauce made from shallots, egg yolk, spices, ketchup, and vinegar or oil, served hot or cold with game.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Poivrade Sauce

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 ↓

Poivrade Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the shallots finely.

  2. Mash the hard-boiled egg yolk with salt and cayenne pepper in a bowl.

  3. Add the mushroom or walnut ketchup and mix well.

  4. Season with chili vinegar or lemon juice to taste.

Finish and serve

  1. Mix in melted butter for a hot sauce, or use salad oil for a cold sauce.

  2. Serve with hot or cold game.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Hard-boiled egg yolk
Mashed into a smooth base that thickens and emulsifies the sauce.
Melted butter or salad oil
Adds richness and a silky, glossy body to the sauce.
Mushroom or walnut ketchup
Contributes concentrated savory, umami depth to the sauce.
Chili vinegar or lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens and balances the rich egg and fat.

The step that matters

Mixing in the butter or oil. Fat must be added gradually to the mashed yolk so it emulsifies. Adding it too fast or when the butter is too hot can split the sauce into greasy droplets.

Swap the shallot

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, mushroom, vinegar, butter. 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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