Name: Aromatic Vinegar
Ingredients: 2 quarts of best vinegar; 2 oz. of sage leaves; 2 oz. of rosemary; 2 oz. of mint; 2 oz. of rue; 2 oz. of wormwood; 4 oz. of camphorated spirits of wine

Why it works: Sage and rosemary match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry 1,8-cineol, which smells eucalyptus, camphor. The science ↓

Aromatic Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Combine the vinegar, sage, rosemary, mint, rue, and wormwood in a jar.
Let the mixture stand by the side of the fire for one week.
Strain the mixture and add the camphorated spirits of wine.

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.

Sage + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together465 recipes

Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).
Rosemary + minttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together165 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sage + minttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together138 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Rosemary + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together895 recipes

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

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

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sage, rosemary, spirit, wine):

Thymefits better
Marjoramfits better
Peppermintfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sage, rosemary, spirit, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.