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Sauce

A Dutch Fish Sauce

A sauce made from egg yolks, butter, vinegar, nutmeg, and mace, thickened over low heat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

A Dutch Fish Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, combine the egg yolks, butter, vinegar, nutmeg, and mace.

  2. Place the saucepan over low heat and stir constantly in one direction.

  3. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens, without adding flour.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Butter + macetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Their proteins set as they heat, thickening the sauce into a custard-like texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, glossy mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the butter and yolks.

The step that matters

Stir constantly over low heat. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set, but if they get too hot or sit still they can scramble and curdle. Constant stirring over low heat spreads the heat evenly and keeps the sauce smooth.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

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