Name: Walnut Pickles
Ingredients: English walnuts; strong salt; water; cider vinegar; spices; pepper

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 ↓

Walnut Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Gather walnuts before June 20, when they can be pierced with a pin.
Soak the walnuts in a mixture of strong salt and water until they turn black.
Boil cider vinegar with spices and pepper.
Add the walnuts to the boiling vinegar.
Let the pickles sit for a year before consuming.

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.

Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,039 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cider + peppertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,234 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Walnut + vinegartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,769 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).