Name: Cumberland Sauce
Ingredients: 1 pint Espagnole sauce; 2 tablespoons jelly; 1 teaspoon prepared mustard; ½ cup port wine; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Why it works: Sauce and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,120 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cumberland Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Combine the Espagnole sauce and jelly in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the prepared mustard, port wine, and Worcestershire sauce.
Heat until the mixture is warm and well combined.

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.

Sauce + mustardtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,120 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Mustard + port winetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together314 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sauce + port winetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together424 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

Espagnole sauce: Forms the savoury, thickened base that carries the other flavours.
Jelly: Adds sweetness and body, balancing the sharp and savoury notes.
Port wine: Contributes depth and fruity sweetness to the sauce.
Prepared mustard: Adds sharpness that cuts through the sweetness of the jelly and port.