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Chlery Vinegar

A vinegar infused with celery or celery seed, steeped for two weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Chlery Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. If using celery, cut it into small pieces and place in a jar.

  2. Pour 1 quart of pure cider vinegar over the celery.

  3. If using celery seed, pour 1 quart of pure cider vinegar over 1 ounce of celery seed.

Infuse

  1. Let the mixture stand for two weeks, shaking it every day.

  2. After two weeks, the vinegar is ready for use.

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.

  1. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Vinegar + celerytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,627 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Cider + celerytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together662 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Cider vinegar
Acts as the liquid base that extracts the celery flavor over time.
Celery seed
Supplies the concentrated celery aroma and flavor that infuses into the vinegar.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand for two weeks, shaking it every day. Flavor extraction is slow, so the vinegar needs the full steeping time and regular shaking to keep the celery evenly in contact with the liquid. Rushing it leaves a weak celery taste.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar. 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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