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Sauce

Fish Sauce d-LA~Cr Aster

A brown sauce of anchovies, butter, spices, sherry and strong gravy, strained before bottling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Fish Sauce d-LA~Cr Aster

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Thicken the butter with flour.

  2. Brown the floured butter.

Build the sauce

  1. Add the anchovies, mace, cloves, black pepper, small onions, sweet herbs, parsley, and horse-radish.

  2. Pour in the sherry.

  3. Pour in the strong gravy.

  4. Simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Strain and bottle

  1. Strain through a sieve.

  2. Bottle for use.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  4. Clove + marjoramtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Forms the rich base that is thickened with flour and browned for flavour.
Anchovies
Provide a salty, savoury depth that melts into the sauce as it simmers.
Strong gravy
Supplies the main liquid and body of the sauce.
Sherry
Adds acidity and a wine-like aroma to balance the savoury flavours.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the butter so the sauce gains body.

The step that matters

Browning the floured butter. Browning the flour and butter roux develops nutty, toasted flavour and colour, but if it burns it turns bitter and spoils the whole sauce.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, clove, pepper, onion, thyme, basil, marjoram):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, clove, pepper, onion, thyme, basil, marjoram. 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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