Why it works: Ketchup and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Fish Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Combine Port wine, Walnut Pickle, Mushroom Ketchup, pounded Anchovies, pounded Shallots, Soy sauce, and Cayenne pepper in a saucepan.
Simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Strain the mixture and let it cool.
Bottle and store
Pour into bottles, cork well, and seal.
Store in a cool place; it will keep for a considerable time.
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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Ketchup + saucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Walnut + shallottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together440 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Port wine + shallottop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together380 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Port wine + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together570 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Anchovies
- Dissolve into the liquid to add deep savoury, umami flavour.
- Shallots
- Add sharp, aromatic onion notes that mellow during the gentle simmer.
- Mushroom ketchup
- Adds concentrated savoury depth and umami to the sauce.
- Walnut pickle
- Contributes a dark, tangy, slightly bitter savoury character.
- Port wine
- Adds sweetness, body and fruity depth to the liquid base.
The step that matters
Simmer gently. Simmering gently extracts flavour from the anchovies and shallots without boiling off the wine and pickles too quickly. A hard boil can scorch the mixture and make it taste harsh, while a gentle simmer keeps the flavours balanced and the sauce evenly seasoned.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (port wine, mushroom, ketchup, shallot, sauce, pepper):
- Chestnutfits better
- Beansfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Peasfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against port wine, mushroom, ketchup, shallot, sauce, pepper. 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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