Name: Robert Sauce
Ingredients: 1 cup stock; 1 teaspoon made mustard; 2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar

Why it works: Mustard and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 901 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Robert Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup stock
1 teaspoon made mustard
2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the stock, made mustard, and tarragon vinegar.
Heat gently until warmed through.
Serve immediately.

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.

Mustard + tarragontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together901 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,547 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 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

Stock: Provides the liquid base that carries the sauce's flavour and body.
Made mustard: Adds sharpness and a savoury bite that balances the sauce.
Tarragon vinegar: Adds acidity and a distinct herbal aroma that brightens the sauce.