Name: Vinegar Stew for Hoarseness
Ingredients: ½ cup strong vinegar; small lump of butter; sugar to taste; pinch of cayenne pepper; hoarhound candy (optional) or fresh hoarhound (optional)

Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Vinegar Stew for Hoarseness

Ingredients

½ cup strong vinegar
small lump of butter
sugar to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper
hoarhound candy (optional) or fresh hoarhound (optional)

Directions

In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, butter, and sugar.
Boil the mixture for a few minutes.
Add a pinch of cayenne pepper.
If desired, boil a stick of hoarhound candy with the mixture or steep fresh hoarhound and add it.

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 + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).