Superlative Sauce

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.

1. Shallot + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together376 recipes

   Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

2. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together27,047 recipes

   Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

3. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together1,982 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

4. Lemon + shallottop 6% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together2,523 recipes

   Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

5. Walnut + shallottop 6% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together440 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Port wine

Adds sweetness and depth, and its acidity helps balance the salty and savoury flavours.

Mushroom ketchup

Provides concentrated savoury, umami flavour that gives the sauce its body.

Walnut pickle

Contributes a dark, tangy, slightly bitter note that rounds out the sauce.

Pounded anchovies

Dissolve into the liquid to add deep salty umami without a clearly fishy taste.

Shallots

Release aromatic compounds slowly during steeping, adding a mild savoury onion character.

Horseradish

Adds pungent volatile compounds that give sharpness, which mellow during steeping.

The step that matters

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (port wine, mushroom, ketchup, walnut, shallot, horseradish, pepper):

1. Lemonthe original
2. Limefits about as well
3. Cherryfits less well
4. Avocadofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against port wine, mushroom, ketchup, walnut, shallot, horseradish, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.