Name: Aromatic Vinegar
Ingredients: 1 pint pale rum; 1 dram essence of bergamot; 1 ounce camphor; 5 grains pure oil of lavender; 12 grains oil of cinnamon; 4 ounces dried red-rose leaves; 1 quart white-wine vinegar; 1 pint strong essence of rose

Why it works: Bergamot and lavender work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 82 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Aromatic Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Dissolve the essences in the rum.
Add the vinegar or acetic acid.
If not using spirits, mix all ingredients in a tightly stoppered jar and let stand for several days, shaking frequently.
For rose vinegar, pour vinegar over rose leaves, add essence, seal, and let stand for 2-3 weeks, shaking often.
Filter and store in a tightly stoppered glass vessel.

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.

Bergamot + lavendertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together82 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Bergamot + rosetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together61 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Rum + winetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together230 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).
Rum + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together508 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,493 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rum, bergamot, camphor, lavender, rose, wine, vinegar):

Rosemaryfits better
Clovefits about as well
Peppermintfits about as well
Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rum, bergamot, camphor, lavender, rose, wine, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.