Name: Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients: 1 good-sized head cabbage; 1 bunch celery; 12 small cucumbers; 2 tablespoons mustard seed; vinegar; 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

Directions

Remove seeds from the peppers, keeping the tops.
Soak the peppers in weak salt water overnight.
Chop the cabbage and place it in a crock; sprinkle 2 tablespoons of salt on top.
Cover with a plate and weight, and let it stand overnight.
In the morning, drain the salt water from the cabbage and add the chopped celery and cucumbers, along with the mustard seed.
Drain the peppers well and fill them with the mixture; replace the tops and tie securely with white cord.
Place the stuffed peppers in a crock and cover with cold vinegar.
Keep a plate and weight on top to ensure the peppers remain submerged in the vinegar.
Cover the crock with a white cloth and tie it tightly.
The peppers will be ready for use in three weeks.

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,281 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together722 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,840 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, cucumber, mustard, vinegar):

Tarragonfits better
Dillfits better
Capersfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, cucumber, mustard, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.