Name: Caper Sauce
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons capers; 1 tablespoon caper vinegar; 1 teaspoon anchovy essence or mushroom catsup; high seasonings to taste

Why it works: Capers and anchovy work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 473 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

Caper Sauce

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons capers
1 tablespoon caper vinegar
1 teaspoon anchovy essence or mushroom catsup
high seasonings to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the capers and caper vinegar, stirring to combine.
If using, add anchovy essence or mushroom catsup and high seasonings.
Cook for a few minutes until heated through.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Capers + anchovytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together473 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,697 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + caperstop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,637 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Capers + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,453 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + anchovytop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,008 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

Butter: Provides fat and richness, carrying the flavors of the capers and seasonings.
Capers: Add a salty, briny flavor and bits of texture to the sauce.
Caper vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the buttery sauce and sharpens the caper flavor.

“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.