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Tarragon Vinegar

A vinegar infused with fresh tarragon leaves, steeped for 14 days and clarified with isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,547 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Tarragon Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse

  1. Place tarragon leaves in a jar with the vinegar.

  2. Let it steep in a warm place for 14 days.

Strain and bottle

  1. Strain the mixture through a flannel bag.

  2. Add isinglass and transfer to a dry jar.

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 + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Tarragon + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together521 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

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

What each ingredient does

Tarragon leaves
Supply the main aromatic flavour that steeps into the vinegar.
Distilled wine vinegar
Acts as the solvent that extracts flavour from the leaves and adds sharp acidity.
Isinglass
Clarifies the vinegar by binding fine particles so they settle out, leaving it clear.

The step that matters

Steep for the full 14 days in a warm place. Flavour compounds leach slowly from the leaves into the vinegar, so a shorter steep gives a weak, thin tarragon taste. Warmth speeds extraction, and the full time lets it develop depth.

“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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