Name: Pickles
Ingredients: perfectly sound fruit or vegetables; cider vinegar; white wine vinegar; spices (purest available)

Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Pickles

Ingredients

perfectly sound fruit or vegetables
cider vinegar
white wine vinegar
spices (purest available)

Directions

Select perfectly sound fruit or vegetables for pickling.
Use only the best cider vinegar or good white wine vinegar.
Avoid metal kettles or spoons; use a stone jar or porcelain-lined kettle.
Keep pickles covered with vinegar to prevent spoilage.
Store in large jars and transfer to smaller jars 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.

Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Cider + white winetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together194 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Vinegar + white winetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,776 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).