Name: Chili Peppers Preserved in Vinegar
Ingredients: small chili peppers; wine vinegar

Why it works: Wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,493 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Chili Peppers Preserved in Vinegar

Ingredients

small chili peppers
wine vinegar

Directions

Prepare

Select small chili peppers of the same size.
Cut the ends off the peppers.
Place the peppers into pint bottles.

Pickle

Fill the bottles with wine vinegar to cover the peppers.
Cork the bottles tightly.
Let the peppers sit for six weeks before using.

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.

Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,493 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + winetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,066 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

What each ingredient does

Small chili peppers: Provide the main flavor and heat that the vinegar carries into the pickle.
Wine vinegar: Acidity preserves the peppers and gives them their sharp, tangy taste.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.