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Sauce

Brown Sauce

A hearty brown sauce made with smoked ham, veal, beef, carrots, onions, herbs, and stock.

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

Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Brown Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Line the bottom of a saucepan with the smoked ham.

  2. Layer the sliced carrots and onions over the ham, then add the bunch of herbs.

  3. Cut the veal and beef into pieces and place them over the vegetables.

Brown and simmer

  1. Cover the saucepan and set it over low heat to brown the meats slowly.

  2. Remove excess fat and moisten the mixture with the general stock.

  3. Let it simmer for 4 hours, then strain and set aside for further use.

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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Carrot + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Ham + beeftop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal knuckles
Bones and connective tissue release gelatin, giving the sauce body and a silky mouthfeel.
Beef
Meat browns slowly under low heat, building savory depth in the finished sauce.
General stock
Provides the liquid that moistens the mixture and carries flavor during the long simmer.
Onions
Caramelize slowly against the pan, adding sweetness and savory aroma to the sauce.
Carrots
Release natural sugars during slow cooking, adding sweetness and rounding the flavor.
Smoked ham
Lines the pan and contributes smoky, salty flavor that seasons the whole sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the meats slowly over low heat. Gentle, covered browning lets the meat proteins and sugars develop deep color and flavor without scorching. Rushing with high heat can burn the bottom and make the sauce bitter.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, onion, veal, beef):

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Leekfits about as well
  3. Carrotthe original
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, onion, veal, beef. 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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