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Tarragon Vinegar

A vinegar infused with dried tarragon leaves steeped for fourteen days.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,547 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Tarragon Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tarragon

  1. Gather fresh tarragon leaves on a dry day between Midsummer and Michaelmas, just before they flower.

  2. Remove the leaves from the stalks and dry them slightly by the fire.

  3. Fill a wide-mouthed bottle with the dried tarragon leaves.

Steep and bottle

  1. Cover the leaves with the best vinegar and let them steep for fourteen days.

  2. Strain the mixture through a flannel jelly bag until fine.

  3. Pour the strained vinegar into half-pint bottles, cork them carefully, and store in a dry place.

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.

  1. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh tarragon leaves
Supply the main aroma and flavour that the vinegar takes up during steeping.
Best vinegar
Acts as the steeping liquid that draws out the tarragon's flavour and carries it.

The step that matters

Drying the leaves slightly by the fire. Leaves that hold too much moisture dilute the vinegar and can spoil during steeping. Gentle drying concentrates the flavour and helps the vinegar stay clear and stable in storage.

“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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