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Sauce

Sharp Sauce

A sauce made with oil, onion, tomato, mushrooms, flour, water or stock, vinegar, herbs, pepper, salt and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,719 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Sharp Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, heat the salad oil over medium heat.

  2. Add the finely chopped onion, tomato, and mushrooms; cook until browned.

  3. Stir in the flour and let it brown as well.

  4. Pour in the water or vegetable stock and stir until it boils.

  5. Add the vinegar and sweet herbs; simmer for a few minutes.

  6. Strain the sauce and serve.

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. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the sauce as it cooks and browns, adding body and a toasted flavour.
Onion
Browns in the oil to add savoury sweetness and depth of flavour.
Mushrooms
Browning releases savoury flavour that adds richness to the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the sauce its sharp taste.

The step that matters

Browning the flour. Flour must be stirred and cooked until it turns golden, which cooks out its raw taste and builds color and flavour. Adding liquid too soon leaves lumps and a pale, floury sauce.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, tomato, mushroom, flour, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, tomato, mushroom, flour, vinegar, 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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