Why it works: Shallot and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 405 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Piquante Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Combine shallots, gherkins, capers, vinegar, thyme, bay leaf, and mignonette pepper in a small saucepan, then bring the mixture to a boil.
Reduce the vinegar to a third of its original quantity.
Add the Espagnole sauce and blond of veal, then simmer gently.
Skim off any impurities.
Remove thyme and bay leaf.
Transfer the sauce to a bain-marie for use.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Shallot + caperstop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together405 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,476 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Capers + thymetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together309 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Capers + saucetop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together678 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
- Shallots
- Provide aromatic sweetness and body as they soften in the vinegar.
- French vinegar
- Reduces to concentrate acidity and sharpness that define the piquante character.
- Gherkins
- Add tart, briny flavour and a little texture to the sauce.
- Espagnole sauce
- Forms the thickened, savoury base that gives the sauce body.
- Blond of veal
- Adds gelatin and meaty depth, rounding out the sauce's richness.
The step that matters
Reducing the vinegar to a third. Reduction concentrates the acid and flavour of the vinegar. Stopping too early leaves the sauce sharp and thin, while over-reducing makes it sour and overly intense before the Espagnole and veal are added.
Flavor stand-ins for the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, capers, vinegar, pepper, sauce, veal):
- Tarragonbetter flavor fit
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Thymethe original
- Marjoramabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, capers, vinegar, pepper, sauce, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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