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Puree of Sorrel

A savory sorrel puree made with onions, butter, flour, spices, and sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sorrel and nutmeg share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 89 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Puree of Sorrel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sorrel

  1. Pick the sorrel.

  2. Wash the sorrel in several waters.

  3. Drain the sorrel.

  4. Place the sorrel in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until melted and boiled for a few minutes.

  5. Transfer the sorrel to a fine sieve to drain excess water.

Make the puree

  1. In another saucepan, fry the onions in butter until light in color.

  2. Add flour, nutmeg, sugar, pepper, and salt to the onions.

  3. Moisten the onions with the sauce.

  4. Stir in the drained sorrel.

  5. Reduce the puree over medium heat, stirring constantly.

  6. Rub the puree through a fine sieve into a small saucepan.

  7. Heat the puree.

  8. Add a pat of butter and a piece of glaze.

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. Sorrel + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together89 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Sorrel + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together231 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sorrel + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together419 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Sorrel
Forms the green base of the puree and gives it its tart, lemony flavour.
Onions
Soften and sweeten during frying, adding body and savoury depth to the puree.
Butter
Enriches the onions and gives the finished puree a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the puree as it cooks, giving it a body that holds together.
White or brown sauce
Moistens the onions and adds further body and savoury richness to the puree.

The step that matters

Reduce the puree while stirring constantly. Sorrel's acid and water content can turn it dull or dark and cause it to scorch on the pan base. Constant stirring over medium heat evaporates excess liquid evenly, concentrating flavour and keeping the texture smooth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sorrel, butter, flour, nutmeg, sugar, pepper, sauce):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sorrel, butter, flour, nutmeg, sugar, pepper, 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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