Name: Mustard Sauce
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons mustard; ½ cup milk or cream; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 1 tablespoon vinegar or horseradish vinegar (optional)

Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mustard Sauce

Ingredients

2 tablespoons mustard
½ cup milk or cream
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon vinegar or horseradish vinegar (optional)

Directions

In a bowl, blend the mustard with milk or cream until smooth.
Add coarse sea salt and mix until you reach the desired consistency.
If you want a piquant flavor, substitute vinegar or horseradish vinegar for the milk.

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.

Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + milktop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,658 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Milk + vinegartop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,949 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Mustard: Provides the sharp, pungent flavor that defines the sauce.
Milk or cream: Thins the mustard into a smooth, pourable sauce and softens its bite.
Vinegar or horseradish vinegar: Adds acidity for a sharper, piquant flavor when used in place of milk.