Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Green Pepper Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Cut an opening in the top of each pepper and remove half the seeds.
Soak the peppers in a saltwater solution for two weeks, keeping them covered and weighted down.
Remove any scum that rises during soaking.
If the peppers are not yellow after two weeks, let them soak longer.
Once yellow, wash the peppers and place them in a kettle with cold water.
Cover the tops with grapevine leaves and heat near a fire without simmering.
After they are heated, drain the peppers and pack them into jars.
Pour cold spiced vinegar over the peppers.
For stuffing, finely chop cabbage and green cucumbers, and season with mace, cinnamon, cloves, and mustard seed.
Stuff each pepper with the mixture and tie with thread.
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.
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,281 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, vinegar, cabbage, cucumber, cinnamon, clove, mustard):
- Allspicefits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Dillfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, cabbage, cucumber, cinnamon, clove, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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