Why it works: Meat and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 31% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,428 recipes. Both carry 3-methylbutanol, which smells malty, whiskey. The science ↓
Pot-au-feu
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 160°F (70°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Cut meat and vegetables into suitable pieces.
Combine meat and vegetable scraps in a pot.
Add enough water to cover the ingredients.
Stir in a little vinegar and coarse sea salt.
Simmer gently, ensuring the heat does not exceed 160°F (70°C).
Cook vegetables separately by steaming, then add them to the pot at the right time.
Add herbs last to preserve their flavor.
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.
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Meat + vinegartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,428 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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