Name: Vtnbgab Fob Soused Fish
Ingredients: strong vinegar; cloves; black peppercorns; mustard seed; young walnuts

Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Vtnbgab Fob Soused Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Steep cloves, black peppercorns, mustard seed, and bruised young walnuts in strong vinegar for four weeks.
Strain the vinegar to remove the spices.
Boil the fish until tender.
Pour the spiced vinegar over the boiled fish to souse it.

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 + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Clove + mustardtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,829 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Mustard + walnuttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together849 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Clove + walnuttop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,592 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,386 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).