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Sweet and Sour Sauce

A sauce made with brown sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, pineapple chunks, cherries, celery, and optional meat, served over rice.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,169 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Mix the brown sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan.

  2. Add the vinegar, soy sauce, and most of the pineapple juice.

  3. Heat to boiling while stirring constantly.

Add the fruit and vegetables

  1. Reduce heat, then add pineapple chunks, cherries, celery, and cooked meat.

  2. Cook until celery begins to soften.

Serve

  1. Serve sauce with cooked rice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1512Calories
99 gProtein
33 gFat
199 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pork100g cooked242
Salmon100g cooked208
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Pineapple1 cup chunks (165g)82
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Meatnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Celery + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Red wine + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together575 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Red wine + pineappletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Meat + ricetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,481 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + pineappletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together411 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and helps give the sauce its flavor and color.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid into a glossy sauce as it heats.
Red wine vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar and pineapple.
Pineapple chunks
Add fruity sweetness, moisture, and a tender bite to the sauce.

The step that matters

Heat to boiling while stirring constantly. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil. Constant stirring keeps it dispersed so it doesn't clump or scorch on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, red wine, vinegar, sauce, celery, meat, rice):

  1. Plumfits better
  2. Grapefits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, red wine, vinegar, sauce, celery, meat, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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