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Sauce

Italian Sauce

A sauce made with espagnole, shallots, thyme, mushrooms, wine, stock, and sweet oil, simmered and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,476 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Italian Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the shallots

  1. Peel the shallots and finely chop them.

  2. Place the shallots in a clean cloth and hold tightly, then rinse under cold water.

  3. Squeeze out the water from the shallots.

Make the sauce

  1. Put the shallots in a small saucepan with the oil.

  2. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes to blend without coloring.

  3. Add the wine, finely chopped mushrooms, thyme, bay leaf, and stock.

  4. Let the mixture reduce well.

  5. Add the espagnole sauce.

  6. Boil for ten minutes.

  7. Remove the herbs.

  8. Strain out the oil.

  9. Keep the sauce hot in a bain-marie until needed.

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. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Thyme + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Sauce + shallottop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + mushroomtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,480 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

Espagnole sauce
Forms the body of the sauce, giving it richness and a smooth, full texture.
Chablis or sauterne
Adds acidity and aromatic depth as it reduces into the sauce.
Stock
Adds savory liquid that thins the sauce and carries flavor.
Preserved mushrooms
Contributes earthy, savory flavor and some body to the sauce.

The step that matters

Let the mixture reduce well. Reducing concentrates flavor and evaporates alcohol and excess liquid before the espagnole sauce is added, so the finished sauce tastes deep rather than thin or harsh.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, shallot, mushroom):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Thymethe original
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, shallot, mushroom. 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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