Horseradish 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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together81,283 recipes

   Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

3. Lemon + horseradishtop 9% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together1,155 recipes

   Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

4. Flour + horseradishtop 10% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together743 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Pepper + horseradishtop 11% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together2,646 recipes

   Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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 carries flavour, while forming the base roux with flour.

Flour

Thickens the sauce by swelling in the hot liquid to give body.

Milk or fish stock

Forms the liquid base that the roux thickens into a smooth sauce.

Grated horseradish

Provides the sharp, pungent heat that defines the sauce.

Egg yolk

Adds richness and a silkier texture to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Swap the horseradish

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, milk, pepper, lemon, egg):

1. Asparagusfits better
2. Shallotfits better
3. Capsicumfits better
4. Horseradishthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, milk, pepper, lemon, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.