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Sauce

Harvey Sauce

A fermented sauce made from vinegar, anchovies, garlic, cayenne pepper, and soy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Harvey Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Combine all ingredients in an earthenware jar.

  2. Cover closely and let the mixture sit for 1 month, stirring 2-3 times daily.

Bottle and store

  1. After 1 month, strain the mixture into small bottles.

  2. Cork the bottles securely and store 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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Mushroom + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,700 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Mushroom + clovetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,663 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Malt vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that carries and preserves the sauce's flavour.
Indian soy sauce
Adds salty, savoury depth and colour to the sauce.
Mushroom or walnut vinegar
Adds a second layer of acidity with a rich, earthy aroma.
Anchovies
Dissolve over the long steep, adding savoury umami depth.
Cayenne pepper
Supplies heat, which builds gradually as the sauce steeps.

The step that matters

Covering and steeping for 1 month. The jar must be closed tightly so the vinegar and flavourings steep without losing liquid or aroma. Regular stirring keeps the anchovies and spices evenly dispersed, so the sauce matures uniformly rather than tasting uneven.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (malt, vinegar, sauce, mushroom, garlic, pepper):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against malt, vinegar, sauce, mushroom, garlic, 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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