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The Best Dang Rib Sauce, Period

"This sauce began as a dare to top an ex-boyfriend's father's locally famous sauce. Something magical happens when it hits the grill! Don't forget to add to the ribs in the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking, or else the high sugar content will scorch. Don't let the strong smell of vinegar scare you while cooking; the flavor of the sauce after cooking does not reflect the scent that fills the kitchen while cooking."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 15 ingredients
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The Best Dang Rib Sauce, Period

Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 15,539 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

The Best Dang Rib Sauce, Period

2 cups
Prep10 min
Cook41 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together29,779 recipes

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

  5. Honey + apple cider vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together169 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pepper, honey, molasses, sugar, tomato, apple cider vinegar):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Mustardbetter flavor fit
  3. Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, pepper, honey, molasses, sugar, tomato, apple cider vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).