Why it works: Butter and capers are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,637 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Caper Sauce for Boiled Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the drawn butter and capers in a saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring constantly to prevent separation.
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.
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Butter + caperstop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,637 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
- Drawn butter
- Provides rich fat and flavor, forming the body of the sauce.
- Capers
- Add briny, acidic sharpness that cuts through the richness of the butter.
The step that matters
Bringing the mixture to a boil while stirring. Constant stirring keeps the butter emulsified and prevents it from separating as it heats. Letting it sit unstirred can cause the fat and liquid to split, leaving a greasy, broken sauce.
“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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