Name: Horseradish
Ingredients: large horse-radish roots; coarse sea salt; vinegar

Why it works: Horse and radish work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 529 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

Horseradish

Ingredients

large horse-radish roots
coarse sea salt
vinegar

Directions

Peel and grate the large horse-radish roots.
Mix the grated root with a little coarse sea salt and vinegar.
Serve as a relish with meats or oysters.
For summer use, bottle the treated grated root after mixing with salt and vinegar.

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.

Horse + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together529 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Radish + vinegartop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together508 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Horse + vinegartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together331 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).