Name: Carrach, or Indian Sauce for Gravies
Ingredients: 2 heads of garlic, each clove cut in half; 1 ounce cayenne pepper; ¼ pound treacle; 4-5 tablespoons mushroom catsup; 4-5 tablespoons walnut pickle; essence of anchovies to taste; 3 tablespoons mango pickle; 1 quart vinegar; a little pounded cochineal

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 ↓

Carrach, or Indian Sauce for Gravies

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

Combine garlic, cayenne pepper, treacle, mushroom catsup, walnut pickle, essence of anchovies, mango pickle, vinegar, and pounded cochineal in a bowl.
Place the mixture in a cool, dark place for one month, stirring daily.

Finish and bottle

After a month, filter the mixture to remove solids.
Bottle the sauce 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.

Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Pepper + mangotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together471 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Garlic + mushroomtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,700 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + mangotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together124 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Garlic: Adds pungent aroma and savoury depth to the sauce.
Vinegar: Provides acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the sauce.
Treacle: Adds sweetness and dark colour with a rich, molasses-like depth.
Cayenne pepper: Supplies heat and pungency to the sauce.
Mushroom catsup: Contributes savoury umami flavour.

The step that matters

Standing the mixture for one month. The sauce needs the full month in a cool, dark place so its flavours can blend and mellow. Stirring daily keeps the solids evenly distributed while the vinegar works on the other ingredients. Stopping early leaves the flavours harsh and unmelded.

Swap the walnut

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

Chickpeafits better
Cashew nutfits better
Beansfits better
Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, clove, pepper, mushroom, mango, vinegar. 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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Carrach, or Indian Sauce for Gravies