Name: Sauce Vinaigrette
Ingredients: ½ cup olive oil; ¼ cup vinegar; ⅓ onion, finely chopped; 2 teaspoons chopped parsley or pickle

Why it works: Olive and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,649 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Sauce Vinaigrette

Ingredients

½ cup olive oil
¼ cup vinegar
⅓ onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chopped parsley or pickle

Directions

Mix the olive oil and vinegar to create a plain French dressing.
Add the finely chopped onion and chopped parsley or pickle.

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.

Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,649 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,779 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Olive oil: Provides the fat that carries flavour and gives the dressing its body.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and balances the richness of the oil.
Onion: Adds sharp, pungent flavour and a little crunch to the dressing.
Parsley or pickle: Adds fresh herbal or tangy flavour and texture to the dressing.