Why it works: Shallot and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 405 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Piquante Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Combine shallots, gherkins, capers, vinegar, thyme, bay leaf, and mignonette pepper in a small saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Reduce the vinegar to one-third of its original quantity.
Add the Espagnole sauce and blond veal stock.
Simmer gently, skimming off any impurities.
Remove thyme and bay leaf.
Serve
Transfer the sauce to a bain-marie for serving.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Shallot + caperstop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together405 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,476 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Capers + thymetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together309 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Capers + saucetop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together678 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shallots
- Provide aromatic flavour that builds the base of the sauce.
- French vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the sauce, and reducing it concentrates that tang.
- Espagnole sauce
- Supplies body and a rich, savoury base to the sauce.
- Blond veal stock
- Adds savoury depth and gelatin that give the sauce more body.
- Green gherkins
- Contribute sharp, briny acidity that gives the sauce its piquant character.
The step that matters
Reducing the vinegar to one-third. Vinegar must reduce enough to mellow its raw sharpness and concentrate flavour before the stock and Espagnole are added. Under-reducing leaves the sauce harsh and thin, while over-reducing can make it overly sour and sticky.
Flavor stand-ins for the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, capers, vinegar, pepper, sauce, veal):
- Tarragonbetter flavor fit
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Thymethe original
- Marjoramabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, capers, vinegar, pepper, sauce, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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