Name: Cockles, Pickled
Ingredients: cockles; equal quantity of vinegar; 1 blade of mace; ⅓ cup of sherry or brandy for every pint of liquid

Why it works: Vinegar and sherry work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 660 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Cockles, Pickled

Ingredients

cockles
equal quantity of vinegar
1 blade of mace
⅓ cup of sherry or brandy for every pint of liquid

Directions

Prepare the cockles as for sauce and strain the liquid through muslin.
In a saucepan, combine the strained liquid with vinegar, mace, and sherry or brandy.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Place the cockles into bottles and cover them with the liquid.
Cork the bottles tightly.
Let the cockles sit for five minutes before opening.

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 + sherrytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together660 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Mace + sherrytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,046 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,415 recipes