Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,058 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Piquant Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine chopped young onions and chilies.
Add salt if needed.
Pour in the olive oil and vinegar.
Mix until you achieve a thick sauce consistency.
Serve with curry, cutlets, steaks, pork, cold meat, or fish.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together25,665 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together29,779 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Vinegar + garlictop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together9,115 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Olive oil
- Adds richness and body, carrying flavour through the sauce.
- Vinegar
- Provides sharp acidity that brightens the onions and chilies.
- Young onions
- Supply the main aromatic base and pungent flavour.
- Chilies
- Supply heat and fresh pungency to the sauce.
“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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