gastrique
process / process-gastrique
ガストリック
↑Short definition
A French culinary technique that heats sugar until caramelized, then deglazes it with vinegar or another acid to form the base of a sweet-and-sour sauce. Early 20th-century classical cookbooks describe the same technique (burnt sugar plus vinegar), but the term "gastrique" itself has not been confirmed.
A reader-facing overview for this entry is in preparation. What has been checked, and its sources, can be followed from the claim cards below.
Hypotheses and recipe candidates for this entry are on the Japanese page.
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
How processing and cooking change it (1)
gastrique is documented as using The 1903 edition of Escoffier's 『Le Guide Culinaire』 (in translation: "The Culinary Guide"), in its Sauce Bigarade entry (for caneton poêlé), contains the description 「20グラムの砂糖をカラメル状にし、大さじ1杯半の酢に溶かす(additionné de 20 grammes de sucre caramélisé et dissous avec 1 cuillerée et demie de vinaigre)」 (in translation: "caramelize 20 grams of sugar and dissolve it in a tablespoon and a half of vinegar"), recorded as a technique of caramelizing sugar and then dissolving it with acid.contextual
Scope: As part of the recipe for sauce bigarade served with poêléed caneton (young duckling)
A process description reading 「20グラムの砂糖をカラメル状にし、大さじ1杯半の酢に溶かす」 (in translation: "caramelize 20 grams of sugar and dissolve it in a tablespoon and a half of vinegar"). The word "gastrique" is not used.
Limitations: This is a description within a single recipe, and it does not address when the word "gastrique" itself came into use.
Source: Le Guide Culinaire — Aide-mémoire de cuisine pratique (1903) — Sauces / Sauce Bigarade (Escoffier A, 1903) · full text checked
Show data
process-gastrique —is_documented_using→ "The 1903 edition of Escoffier's 『Le Guide Culinaire』 (in translation: "The Culinary Guide"), in its Sauce Bigarade entry (for caneton poêlé), contains the description 「20グラムの砂糖をカラメル状にし、大さじ1杯半の酢に溶かす(additionné de 20 grammes de sucre caramélisé et dissous avec 1 cuillerée et demie de vinaigre)」 (in translation: "caramelize 20 grams of sugar and dissolve it in a tablespoon and a half of vinegar"), recorded as a technique of caramelizing sugar and then dissolving it with acid."claim: clm-gastrique-escoffier-technique / type: processing / updated: 2026-09-02