Name: Bordeaux Sauce
Ingredients: 2 quarts green peppers, finely chopped; 2 small heads of cabbage, finely chopped; 5 small onions, finely chopped; 2 sweet red peppers, finely chopped; 2-3 tablespoons turmeric; 2-3 tablespoons mustard seed; 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt; 1 cup sugar; 1 quart vinegar

Why it works: Turmeric and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,279 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Bordeaux Sauce

Ingredients

2 quarts green peppers, finely chopped
2 small heads of cabbage, finely chopped
5 small onions, finely chopped
2 sweet red peppers, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons turmeric
2-3 tablespoons mustard seed
2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
1 cup sugar
1 quart vinegar

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large pot.
Boil for 20 minutes.
Pour the sauce into jars while hot.

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.

Turmeric + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,279 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,478 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar: Adds sharp acidity that gives the sauce its tang and helps preserve it.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Cabbage: Provides bulk, and softens to a tender texture as it cooks.
Mustard seed: Contributes a pungent, sharp flavour.
Turmeric: Gives the sauce its yellow colour and an earthy flavour.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cabbage, turmeric, mustard, sugar, vinegar):

Horseradishfits better
Cauliflowerfits better
Radishfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cabbage, turmeric, mustard, sugar, vinegar. 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.