Name: Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients: 2 cups stock; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 1 tablespoon browned flour; 1 teaspoon mustard; ¼ teaspoon salt; a small amount of cayenne pepper; a small amount of black pepper

Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the stock, vinegar, browned flour, mustard, salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.
Let the cooked meat simmer in the sauce for a while or baste the meat frequently with the sauce.

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.

Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,066 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Stock: Forms the liquid base that carries the sauce's flavour and body.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that sharpens the sauce and balances its richness.
Browned flour: Thickens the sauce and adds a toasted, deeper colour and flavour.
Mustard: Contributes sharp, pungent flavour that rounds out the sauce.