Name: Beet Relish
Ingredients: 2 cups chopped cooked beets; ½ cup sugar; ⅓ cup grated horseradish root; ¼ cup coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); vinegar to cover

Why it works: Horseradish and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Beet Relish

Ingredients

2 cups chopped cooked beets
½ cup sugar
⅓ cup grated horseradish root
¼ cup coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
vinegar to cover

Directions

Mix all ingredients together.
Serve cold as a relish with the meat course at dinner.

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.

Horseradish + vinegartop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + horseradishtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,314 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and horseradish.
Grated horseradish root: Provides the sharp, pungent heat that gives the relish its bite.
Chopped cooked beets: Supply the main bulk, earthy flavor, and deep color of the relish.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that preserves the relish and sharpens its flavor.