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Sauce

Herb Sauce

A liquid herb sauce made by simmering horseradish, shallots, herbs, cloves, caramel browning, lemon juice, vinegar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme 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 ↓

Herb Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Combine all ingredients in a pot.

  2. Simmer for 1 hour.

  3. Allow to cool completely.

Bottle

  1. Strain the mixture into small bottles.

  2. Cork and seal the bottles securely.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Shallot + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  4. Marjoram + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together148 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Horseradish
Provides the sharp, pungent heat that defines the sauce.
Shallots
Add mild onion-like sweetness and savory depth as they soften in the liquid.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the pungency.
Vinegar
Contributes sharp acidity that helps preserve the sauce and sharpens its taste.
Caramel browning
Adds a deeper brown color and a mild toasted, caramel note.

The step that matters

Allow to cool completely. Bottling the sauce while it is still warm can trap steam and moisture in the bottles, which encourages spoilage and weakens the seal. Letting it cool fully before straining and corking keeps the sauce stable and the bottles secure.

Swap the horseradish

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, marjoram, thyme, basil, tarragon, clove, lemon):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Horseradishthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, marjoram, thyme, basil, tarragon, clove, lemon. 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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