Name: Mock Caper Sauce
Ingredients: ½ cup pickled green peas, chopped; ½ cup French beans, chopped; ½ cup gherkins, chopped; ½ cup nasturtiums, chopped; ½ cup melted butter; 2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar

Why it works: Peas and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 949 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Mock Caper Sauce

Ingredients

½ cup pickled green peas, chopped
½ cup French beans, chopped
½ cup gherkins, chopped
½ cup nasturtiums, chopped
½ cup melted butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar

Directions

Chop the pickled green peas, French beans, gherkins, and nasturtiums into bits the size of capers.
Combine the chopped ingredients in a bowl with the melted butter.
Add the lemon juice or vinegar and mix well.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Peas + beanstop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together949 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Peas + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,005 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Beans + lemontop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,474 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,887 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Pickled green peas: Provide the tangy, briny flavor that stands in for capers.
Gherkins: Add sharp, acidic crunch that mimics the bite of capers.
Melted butter: Carries the chopped pieces and adds richness and a smooth, coating texture.
Lemon juice or vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and sharpens its flavor.