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Tarragon Vinegar

A vinegar infused with tarragon leaves, onions, long pepper, and wine or cider vinegar, clarified with isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Tarragon Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Partly dry the tarragon leaves before using.

  2. Combine the tarragon, onions, long pepper, and vinegar in a stone jug.

Steep and clarify

  1. Let the mixture steep for two weeks.

  2. Filter through a flannel jelly bag.

  3. Add ¼ ounce of dissolved isinglass or gelatine to clarify.

Bottle

  1. Bottle the vinegar and let it stand for a month before decanting into small bottles.

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.

  1. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tarragon + white winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together409 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tarragon + oniontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,568 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + white winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,535 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tarragon leaves
Provide the main herbal aroma that flavours the vinegar as it steeps.
White wine or cider vinegar
Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour from the tarragon and onions, and gives the base acidity.
Small onions
Add a mild savoury background that rounds out the herb flavour.
Long pepper
Adds a warm, pungent spice note to the infused vinegar.

The step that matters

Add the isinglass or gelatine to clarify. Isinglass or gelatine is a fining agent: it binds suspended particles so they settle or can be filtered out, leaving the vinegar clear. Dissolve it fully first so it mixes evenly and does not leave cloudy specks.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tarragon, pepper, white wine):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tarragon, pepper, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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