Why it works: Lime and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,044 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The Lucknow Receipt for Pickling Limes or
Ingredients
Directions
Bruise the limes or lemons on a stone.
Place them in water for a few minutes.
Transfer the limes to an earthen vessel and cover them with coarse sea salt for 2-3 days, shaking the vessel frequently.
Remove the limes when they are soft and spread them on a cloth to dry.
In India, air drying is sufficient; in England, place them near a stove.
Once dry, add vinegar and the juice that collected in the vessel.
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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Lime + vinegartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,044 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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