Name: Canned Beets
Ingredients: beets of uniform size; cold water; cider vinegar; sugar; coarse sea salt

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 ↓

Canned Beets

Ingredients

Directions

Leave about 1 inch of stem on the beets.
Cook the beets in enough cold water to cover until tender.
Place cooked beets in cold water to peel; the skin will slip off easily.
Mix equal parts of cider vinegar and water; add sugar and coarse sea salt to taste.
Place peeled beets in hot vinegar.
Once boiling hot, drop beets one at a time into self-sealing jars.
Cover with hot vinegar and seal.

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).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,308 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).