Name: Pickled Beets Fob Relishes, German Style
Ingredients: Beets; Onions; Pepper; Coriander (or Cumin); Cold boiled vinegar; 4 ounces sugar per quart of vinegar

Why it works: Pepper and coriander match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,949 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pickled Beets Fob Relishes, German Style

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beets

Boil the beets, then peel and slice them into 1/8-inch thick slices.

Pack the jar

Layer the slices in an earthen jar, alternating with fine sliced onions, a few grains of pepper, and coriander (or cumin if desired).
Once the jar is full, pour cold boiled vinegar over the beets.
Add 4 ounces of sugar for each quart of vinegar while boiling it.
Cover the jar tightly and store it in a cool place.

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.

Pepper + coriandertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,949 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + coriandertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,219 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

What each ingredient does

Beets: Provide the main body, color, and earthy sweetness of the pickle.
Vinegar: Acidifies the jar, giving the pickle its sharp tang and helping preserve it.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Onions: Add sharp aromatic flavor that mellows as the pickle sits.