Why it works: Capers and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,550 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Sauce Tartars
Ingredients
Directions
Finely chop the capers, cucumber pickles, olives, parsley, and onion.
Stir the chopped ingredients into the mayonnaise dressing.
Serve cold with fried fish and crabs.
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.
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Capers + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,550 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Capers + cucumbertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together303 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Capers + olivetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,688 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,649 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Cucumber + olivetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,611 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
- Capers
- Add a sharp, briny bite that cuts through the richness of the mayonnaise.
- Cucumber pickles
- Contribute acidity and crunch, brightening the creamy dressing.
- Olives
- Add salty, savoury depth and a firm texture to the sauce.
- Mayonnaise dressing
- Forms the creamy base that carries the other chopped ingredients.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (capers, cucumber, olive, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against capers, cucumber, olive, parsley. 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.
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