Name: Preparation of Seaweeds
Ingredients: seaweeds; water; carbonate of soda; pepper; vinegar

Why it works: Pepper and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Preparation of Seaweeds

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the seaweeds in water to remove saline matter.
If needed, add a little carbonate of soda to the water to reduce bitterness.
Stew the seaweeds in water or milk until tender and mucilaginous.
Season with pepper and vinegar before serving.

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.

Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Seaweed + vinegartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together66 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Seaweed + peppertop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together61 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).