Why it works: Capers and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,637 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Caper Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Chop the capers finely or leave some whole or halved as preferred.
Stir the capers and vinegar into the melted butter made with good gravy.
Shake the sauce as you did when melting the butter to prevent it from separating.
Allow the sauce to boil briefly after adding the 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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Capers + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,637 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Capers + vinegartop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,453 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Provides richness and a smooth, thick body to the sauce.
- Capers
- Add a briny, sharp bite that contrasts with the rich butter.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens and cuts through the butter's richness.
- Gravy
- Supplies the savoury base flavour that the sauce is built on.
The step that matters
Shaking the sauce to prevent separation. A butter sauce is an emulsion of fat and liquid, which can split if it is left to stand or overheated. Shaking keeps the butter evenly mixed with the gravy so the sauce stays smooth.
Swap the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter):
- Tarragonfits better
- Garlicfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter. 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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