Name: Pickled Oysters
Ingredients: oysters; strong salt; water; vinegar; whole peppers

Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pickled Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

Wash the oysters and remove the gills.
Scald the oysters in a mixture of strong salt and water.
Remove the oysters and place them in cold water.
Scald vinegar and whole peppers, then let it cool.
In a stone jar, place the oysters.
Make a covering liquid with the water used for scalding and vinegar, using 1 cup of vinegar for every quart of liquid.
Pour the cold liquid over the oysters.

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.

Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,663 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Oyster + vinegartop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,024 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).