Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Caper Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Beat the flour and butter together until creamy.
Gradually add the boiling water while stirring constantly.
Heat the mixture on the stove until it reaches boiling point.
Finish and serve
Stir in the lemon juice, capers, and seasoning.
Serve over meat or in a separate dish.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Lemon + caperstop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,222 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Flour + caperstop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,024 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Capers + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,088 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells in the hot liquid.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the flour blend smoothly into a creamy base.
- Capers
- Add a briny, sharp flavor that cuts through the richness of the butter.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances its richness.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling water gradually while stirring constantly. Flour must be evenly dispersed before its starch heats and swells. Pouring the water in quickly or without stirring lets dry flour clump into lumps that do not smooth out later.
“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.
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