Why it works: Flour and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,024 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Caper Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour.
Gradually add the mutton broth, seasoning with salt and pepper.
Cook down the mixture until it reduces to half, stirring occasionally.
Add the capers and boil for 2 more minutes.
Beat the egg yolk with the cream and stir it into the sauce.
Serve
Serve the sauce hot with boiled mutton.
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.
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Flour + caperstop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,024 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + caperstop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,088 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the broth into a smooth, coating sauce as it cooks with the melted butter.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches the sauce and thickens it gently when stirred in with the cream.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the finished sauce.
- Capers
- Provide the sharp, briny acidity that defines the sauce's flavour.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolk and cream. Adding egg yolk to hot liquid can scramble it. Keep the sauce below a simmer and stir the beaten yolk and cream in gradually so the sauce thickens smoothly.
Swap the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, mutton, pepper, egg, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, mutton, pepper, egg, cream. 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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