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Onion Vinegar

A vinegar infused with grated onions, salt, sugar, and cider vinegar, left to steep and then strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Onion Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and grate the onions.

  2. Mix the grated onions with salt and sugar.

  3. Let the mixture stand for 2 hours.

Infuse and bottle

  1. Add the vinegar and stir well.

  2. Transfer to bottles and shake daily for 2 weeks.

  3. Strain through cheesecloth, then bottle and cork.

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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

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

  4. Cider + oniontop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,775 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  5. Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Onions
Supply the flavour and aroma that infuse into the vinegar.
Cider vinegar
Acts as the liquid base and provides the sharp, acidic bite.
White sugar
Balances the acidity of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Letting the grated onions stand with salt and sugar. Salt draws water out of the grated onions through osmosis, softening them and concentrating their flavour before the vinegar is added. Skipping or shortening this rest leaves the onion flavour weaker and the texture harsher in the finished vinegar.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, sugar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, sugar. 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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