Name: Bordeaux Sauce
Ingredients: 2 gallons cut cabbage; 1 gallon sliced tomatoes; 12 onions, sliced; 1 gallon vinegar; 1 ounce turmeric powder; 1 ounce celery seed; 1 ounce allspice; 1 ounce black pepper; 1 ounce cloves; 1 ounce ground ginger; ½ pound white mustard seed; 1¾ pounds sugar; ½ cup coarse sea salt

Why it works: Turmeric and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 629 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

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.

Turmeric + allspicetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together629 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Turmeric + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,356 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Turmeric + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,478 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage: Forms the bulk of the sauce and gives it body as it cooks down.
Tomatoes: Provide acidity and moisture that help form the sauce's base.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that gives the sauce its tang and helps preserve it.
Onions: Add savory depth and aroma as they soften during cooking.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the vinegar and tomatoes.
Mustard seed: Contributes pungency and sharp flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Packing the sauce into jars while hot. Filling jars while the sauce is still hot helps drive air out and creates a seal as it cools, which matters for keeping the sauce stable in storage.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, tomato, vinegar, turmeric, celery, allspice, pepper):

Mustardfits better
Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, tomato, vinegar, turmeric, celery, allspice, pepper. 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.

Bordeaux Sauce