Why it works: Clove and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,368 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
Eschalot or Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Pound the garlic and eschalots to a pulp in a mortar with the butter.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.
Stir the pulp into the melted butter or brown gravy.
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.
-
Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Garlic + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,572 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Clove + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,045 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Garlic
- Provides a pungent aroma and sharp savoury flavour.
- Eschalots
- Add a mild, sweet onion-like flavour and body to the pulp.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries the flavour of the sauce.
- Brown gravy
- Forms the savoury liquid base that the pulp is stirred into.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, butter):
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Capersfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, butter. 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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Wine Sauce (for stewed fruit)186 recipes
Caper Sauce180 recipes
Brown Sauce141 recipes
Dutch Sauce74 recipes