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Sauce

Gratin Sauce

A sauce made with shallot, mushrooms, parsley, sherry, brown sauce, and anchovy essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Gratin Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, combine the shallot, mushrooms, parsley, and sherry.

  2. Boil until the mixture is reduced by half.

  3. Mix in the brown sauce and anchovy essence.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Shallot
Adds a mild, aromatic onion-like sweetness that builds the flavour base of the sauce.
Mushrooms
Contribute savoury, earthy depth and body as their liquid cooks down with the sherry.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic complexity, and its reduction concentrates the flavour.
Brown sauce
Provides the main body, colour and savoury richness of the finished sauce.
Anchovy essence
Adds concentrated savoury, umami depth without a distinct fishy taste.

The step that matters

Boil until reduced by half. Reducing by half concentrates the sherry and vegetable flavours and evaporates alcohol, so the sauce tastes deep rather than thin or harsh. Stopping too early leaves it watery and sharp.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, mushroom, sherry, sauce, anchovy):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, mushroom, sherry, sauce, anchovy. 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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