Name: Mandram Sauce
Ingredients: 2 shallots or 1 medium onion, minced; 1 cucumber, chopped or sliced; Coarse sea salt, to taste; A small pinch of cayenne pepper; Part of a capsicum, sliced; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 2 tablespoons white wine

Why it works: Pepper and capsicum match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,571 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mandram Sauce

Ingredients

2 shallots or 1 medium onion, minced
1 cucumber, chopped or sliced
Coarse sea salt, to taste
A small pinch of cayenne pepper
Part of a capsicum, sliced
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine

Directions

Prepare

Mince the shallots or onion as finely as possible.
Chop or slice the cucumber and let the vegetables stand in water for a few minutes, then drain them dry.
Sprinkle the vegetables lightly with salt.

Combine and serve

Add the cucumber, cayenne pepper, sliced capsicum, vinegar, and white wine to the drained vegetables. Mix well and serve.

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.

Pepper + capsicumtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,571 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Shallot + cucumbertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together264 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cucumber + capsicumtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Shallot + capsicumtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,984 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,734 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

Shallots or onion: Provide the sharp, savoury base flavour of the sauce.
Cucumber: Adds cool, crisp texture and moisture to the sauce.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and sharpens its flavour.
White wine: Adds acidity and a light, fruity aroma.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, pepper, capsicum, vinegar, white wine):

Mustardfits about as well
Chivefits about as well
Cucumberthe original
Lettucefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, pepper, capsicum, vinegar, white wine. 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.