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
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Stir in the flour and mix well.
Gradually pour in boiling water until the sauce thickens.
Remove from heat and stir in the chopped hard-boiled egg and capers.
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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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).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Carries the flour and adds rich, savoury flavour to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells when heated in liquid.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the flour's starch, forming the liquid body of the sauce.
- Hard-boiled egg
- Adds soft texture and richness to the sauce.
- Capers
- Add sharp, briny acidity that cuts the richness of the butter.
The step that matters
Gradually pour in boiling water. Flour mixed into melted butter must be hydrated slowly while stirring. Adding the water all at once traps dry flour in clumps, so the sauce stays lumpy instead of smooth and thickened.
Swap the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, egg):
- Capersthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Parsleyfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, 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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