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Flavored Vinegars

A vinegar infused with herbs such as tarragon, basil, burnet, mint, sage, thyme, and marjoram.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Flavored Vinegars

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse

  1. Place 3 ounces of your chosen herb into 1 gallon of sharp vinegar.

  2. Let the mixture stand for 10 days.

Strain and bottle

  1. Strain the vinegar to remove the herbs.

  2. 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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Sage + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  5. Tarragon + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together148 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Sharp vinegar
Acts as the liquid that draws aromatic compounds out of the herbs and adds sharp acidity.
Tarragon
Contributes aromatic oils that steep into the vinegar, giving it a distinct herbal flavor.
Sweet basil
Contributes aromatic oils that steep into the vinegar, giving it a sweet herbal aroma.
Green mint
Contributes aromatic oils that steep into the vinegar, giving it a cool, fresh aroma.
Sage
Contributes aromatic oils that steep into the vinegar, giving it an earthy, savory aroma.
Thyme
Contributes aromatic oils that steep into the vinegar, giving it a savory herbal aroma.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand the full 10 days. Flavor compounds and aromatic oils extract slowly into the acidic vinegar. Cutting the standing time short leaves the vinegar weakly flavored, because the herbs have not had enough time to release their aromas.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tarragon, basil, sage, thyme, marjoram, vinegar):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Rosemaryfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tarragon, basil, sage, thyme, marjoram, vinegar. 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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