Why it works: Vinegar and shallot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,374 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
A Fish Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Place the nasturtium blossoms in a jar and cover with vinegar.
Add shallots, salt, and cayenne.
Let the mixture stand for 8 to 10 days.
Strain off the vinegar.
Finish and bottle
For each pint of vinegar, add soy sauce and essence of anchovies.
Bottle, cork well, and seal with wax.
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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Vinegar + shallottop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,374 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Shallot + saucetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,303 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Vinegar + saucetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,844 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Nasturtium blossoms
- Provide the flavour base that the vinegar extracts over the standing period.
- Vinegar
- Acts as the solvent and preserving medium that carries the flavours of the blossoms and shallots.
- Shallots
- Add a mild onion-like aroma and savoury depth to the infused vinegar.
- Soy sauce
- Adds salty, savoury depth and umami to the finished sauce.
- Essence of anchovies
- Adds concentrated savoury, salty fish flavour characteristic of fish sauce.
The step that matters
Let the mixture stand for 8 to 10 days. Flavour is extracted slowly by the acidic vinegar, so stopping early leaves a weak, underdeveloped sauce. Keeping the jar covered limits evaporation and contamination while the infusion develops.
Swap the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sauce):
- Mustardfits better
- Horseradishfits about as well
- Shallotthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sauce. 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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