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Garlic Vinegar

A vinegar infused with garlic, steeped for ten days and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,776 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Garlic Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Make the garlic vinegar

  1. In a jar, combine the chopped garlic and white wine vinegar.

  2. Seal the jar tightly and let it steep for 10 days, shaking it well each day.

Bottle

  1. After 10 days, pour off the clear liquid into small bottles.

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. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Garlic + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,044 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Garlic
Releases its pungent flavor and aroma into the vinegar as it steeps.
White wine vinegar
Acts as the solvent that extracts garlic flavor and provides sharp acidity.

The step that matters

Shaking the jar daily during the steep. Shaking brings garlic pieces into contact with fresh vinegar, helping flavor extract evenly through the steeping period rather than only at the surface.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Garlicthe original
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Peppermintfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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