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Various Flavored Vinegars

A vinegar infused with a chosen flavoring ingredient, steeped for 14 days and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 264 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Various Flavored Vinegars

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Choose a flavoring ingredient and measure 1 ounce.

  2. Add the flavoring ingredient to 1 pint of best vinegar.

  3. Seal the container and let it steep for 14 days.

  4. After 14 days, strain the mixture to remove the solids.

  5. Bottle the flavored vinegar for use.

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. Cucumber + shallottop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together264 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Cucumber + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,556 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Vinegar + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Vinegar + garlictop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 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

Vinegar
Acts as the solvent that extracts and carries the flavor of the added ingredient.
Flavoring ingredient
Releases its aroma and flavor compounds into the vinegar during steeping.

The step that matters

Sealing and steeping for 14 days. Flavor builds slowly as the vinegar extracts compounds from the ingredient over time. Keeping the container sealed prevents contamination and evaporation, so the steep can run its full course.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, cucumber, shallot):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, cucumber, shallot. 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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