Name: Piquante Sauce— No. I
Ingredients: 1 cup Indian soy; 1 cup port wine; 1 cup vinegar; 1 cup ketchup; 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Why it works: Port wine and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 598 recipes mention both. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Piquante Sauce— No. I

Ingredients

Directions

Mix together the Indian soy, port wine, vinegar, ketchup, and cayenne pepper.
Shake well and bottle for use.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Port wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together598 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Port wine + ketchuptop 15% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together425 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Port wine + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,804 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Vinegar + ketchuptop 21% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together737 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Indian soy: Provides salty, savory depth as the sauce's base flavor.
Port wine: Adds sweetness and fruity body to the sauce.
Vinegar: Contributes acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the sauce.
Ketchup: Adds tomato sweetness, thickness, and a rounded, tangy base.
Cayenne pepper: Supplies heat, giving the sauce its piquant bite.

“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.