Name: Horseradish
Ingredients: horse-radish root; vinegar

Why it works: Horse and radish work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 529 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

Horseradish

Ingredients

horse-radish root
vinegar

Directions

Grate a quantity of horse-radish root while it is fresh.
Place the grated horse-radish in bottles.
Fill the bottles with vinegar.
Cork the bottles tightly and store them.

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.

Horse + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together529 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Radish + vinegartop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together508 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Horse + vinegartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together331 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).