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Chili or Tarragon Oil

A flavored oil made by mixing oil with chili or tarragon vinegar, optionally adding capers, chives, or tarragon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Capers and chive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 245 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Chili or Tarragon Oil

Ingredients

Directions

Make the oil

  1. In a bowl, gradually incorporate oil with a wooden spoon or pestle until the mixture thickens.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of chili vinegar or tarragon vinegar and mix well.

Add optional flavourings

  1. If using for fish, add chopped capers and chives.

  2. If using for salad, add chopped chives and tarragon.

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. Capers + chivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together245 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Capers + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together379 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Chive + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together589 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Capers + fishtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Oil
Forms the base of the emulsion and gives the sauce its body and richness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the oil and balances its richness.

The step that matters

Gradually incorporate the oil. Adding oil slowly while stirring lets it disperse into tiny droplets held in the vinegar. Adding it too fast can prevent the mixture from thickening properly.

“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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