Name: Caper Sauce
Ingredients: ½ cup melted butter; 1 tablespoon capers, cut in half or coarsely chopped; 2 teaspoons vinegar from the capers; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper

Why it works: Capers and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,088 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Caper Sauce

Ingredients

½ cup melted butter
1 tablespoon capers, cut in half or coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons vinegar from the capers
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions

Prepare ½ cup of melted butter.
Add 1 tablespoon of capers and 2 teaspoons of vinegar from the capers.
Season with ¼ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper.
Mix well and serve.

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.

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.

Capers + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,088 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + caperstop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,637 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Capers + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,453 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 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

Melted butter: Provides fat and a smooth, rich body that carries the flavor of the other ingredients.
Capers: Add a briny, tangy bite and a sharp aroma that stands out against the butter.
Vinegar from the capers: Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and balances its heaviness.