Why it works: Flour and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,024 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Caper Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
In a bowl, rub together the butter and flour.
Slowly add the hot meat stock while stirring.
Once it begins to thicken, add the chopped capers and boil quickly.
Finish the sauce
Remove from heat and stir in pepper, salt, and additional butter.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk with water, then mix it into the sauce.
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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Flour + caperstop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,024 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + caperstop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,637 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and adds richness with its fat.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a smooth, cohesive sauce when heated.
- Hot meat stock
- Provides the liquid base and savory flavor of the sauce.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches the sauce and adds body through its proteins and fat.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolk. Egg yolk thickens through gentle heat. If the sauce is boiling when the yolk goes in, the proteins can scramble and turn grainy, so the sauce should be off the heat or cooled before mixing it in.
Swap the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, meat, pepper, egg):
- Parsleyfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Turmericfits about as well
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, meat, pepper, egg. 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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