Name: French Dressing
Ingredients: 3 teaspoons cider vinegar; 3½ tablespoons olive oil; 1 large pinch coarse sea salt; 1 tiny pinch black pepper; 1 tiny pinch red pepper

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 ↓

French Dressing

Ingredients

3 teaspoons cider vinegar
3½ tablespoons olive oil
1 large pinch coarse sea salt
1 tiny pinch black pepper
1 tiny pinch red pepper

Directions

In a bowl, mix the cider vinegar and olive oil.
Add the coarse sea salt, black pepper, and red pepper, then whisk until well combined.

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).
Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cider + olivetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together998 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Cider vinegar: Provides the sharp acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Olive oil: Supplies the fat that carries flavor and gives the dressing body.

“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.