Name: Peppers for Relishes
Ingredients: large bell peppers; oil; vinegar; coarse sea salt; black pepper; radishes

Why it works: Vinegar and radish work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 508 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Peppers for Relishes

Ingredients

Directions

Trim the stems off the peppers and cut them into four or six pieces if large.
Remove the seeds and serve on a relish dish garnished with radishes.
If using pickled peppers, dry them with a napkin, slice, and add a little oil, vinegar, and salt.
Broil the large bell peppers, peel, slice, and season with oil, vinegar, black pepper, and salt.

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.

Vinegar + radishtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together508 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + radishtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together382 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

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