Name: Siberian Crab Apple Wine
Ingredients: 10 gallons crab apple cider; 50 large raisins; Warm water; Shot (for cleaning bottles); Thick twine

Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Siberian Crab Apple Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the crab apple cider as per the previous recipe.
After 4 to 6 weeks, when the mustard seed has infused, it is ready to bottle.
Soak the corks in warm water.
Clean the bottles inside with shot and warm water.
Place one large raisin into each bottle and fill with cider.
Pound in the corks with a wooden mallet and tie them with twine.
Lay the bottles on their side in a cool place.

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.

Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,238 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,920 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Crab + raisintop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cider + raisintop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together588 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Crab + appletop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together343 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).