Why it works: Mustard and vinegar 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 ↓
Welsh Rarebit
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the cheese in a saucepan over low heat.
Add butter, eggs, mustard, red pepper, salt, and vinegar, stirring constantly until smooth.
Serve the mixture over toasted bread.
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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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cheese + mustardtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cheese + vinegartop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 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 mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, egg, pepper, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits less well
- Asparagusfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, egg, pepper, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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