Why it works: Pepper and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,402 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
Pleydel’s Sauce for Game, or Orange Gravy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Bring the brown gravy to a boil.
Add the claret, black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, and orange juice.
Let the mixture simmer for a few minutes.
Serve
Pour some sauce over the game and serve the rest hot in a sauceboat.
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.
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Pepper + orangetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,402 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Claret
- Adds acidity and wine flavour that balances the rich brown gravy.
- Brown gravy
- Forms the savoury base of the sauce.
- Orange juice
- Adds acidity and citrus aroma to the sauce.
“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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