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Pepper Vinegar

A vinegar infused with small green or ripe peppers and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Pepper Vinegar

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Fill the bottle

  1. Fill a quart bottle with small peppers.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar.

  3. Fill the bottle with good cider vinegar.

Rest

  1. Seal and let it sit for a few days 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.

  1. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Pepper + cidertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,234 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Sugar + cidertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Small peppers
Provide the pepper flavor and heat that steep into the vinegar.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that softens the sharpness of the vinegar.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that extracts and carries the pepper flavor.

The step that matters

Seal and let it sit. The vinegar needs time to draw flavor and heat out of the peppers and to dissolve the sugar. Using it too soon gives a harsh, thin taste, so the full rest matters.

“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.

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