Name: Poivrade Sauce for Game, Maintenon Cutlets
Ingredients: 12 eschalots, peeled and chopped; 1½ cups vinegar; 1 tablespoon veal consommé; ½ anchovy, rubbed through a fine sieve; a little cayenne pepper; coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') to taste

Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Poivrade Sauce for Game, Maintenon Cutlets

Ingredients

12 eschalots, peeled and chopped
1½ cups vinegar
1 tablespoon veal consommé
½ anchovy, rubbed through a fine sieve
a little cayenne pepper
coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') to taste

Directions

Prepare

Peel and chop the eschalots.

Make the sauce

Combine the eschalots with vinegar, veal consommé, anchovy, cayenne pepper, and salt.

Serve

Serve cold with cold game or heat until boiling for hot dishes.

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.

Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Veal + anchovytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together456 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).
Anchovy + peppertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Vinegar + anchovytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,008 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

Eschalots: Provide the aromatic base and body of the sauce as they soften in the vinegar.
Vinegar: Adds sharp acidity that gives the sauce its bright, tangy character.
Veal consommé: Contributes savoury depth and meaty flavour to the sauce.
Anchovy: Adds a salty, savoury depth that rounds out the sauce without tasting fishy.

“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.