Why it works: Vinegar and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,627 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Celery Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the vinegar
Add cayenne or peppercorns, salt, and sliced celery to boiling vinegar.
Boil for 2-3 minutes.
Pour into a stone jar and seal tightly once cooled.
Steep and bottle
Strain and bottle after 3-4 weeks, or store in the jar for several months.
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.
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Vinegar + celerytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,627 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Celery
- Supplies the main aromatic flavour that the vinegar takes on during steeping.
- Vinegar
- Acts as the liquid base that extracts and carries the celery flavour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the vinegar and adds savoury depth to the finished flavour.
The step that matters
Seal the jar only once the vinegar has cooled. Sealing hot liquid traps steam and creates pressure, and a tight seal on warm vinegar can crack the stone jar or cause it to leak. Letting it cool first keeps the container safe while the flavours steep.
“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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