Name: Processing Cauliflower
Ingredients: 1 pound alum; 2 ounces turmeric; 3 ounces ground cumin seed; 50 gallons water; 45 grain vinegar

Why it works: Turmeric and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Processing Cauliflower

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 100°F (38°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Place the cauliflower in a large processing tank.
Add 1 pound of alum, 2 ounces of turmeric, and 3 ounces of ground cumin seed to the water.
Heat the mixture to 100°F (38°C).
Let the cauliflower soak in this solution for no more than 10 hours.
After soaking, transfer the cauliflower to 45 grain 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.

Turmeric + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,698 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Turmeric + vinegartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,214 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cumin + vinegartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together923 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).