Name: Mustard
Ingredients: 6 seers (12 pounds) mustard seed; water; 3 pints clear oil; cloves; brandy or claret (optional)

Why it works: Mustard and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,829 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the seed

Soak the mustard seeds in water for 2 days, changing the water once or twice.
Dry the seeds in the sun.
Bruise the seeds with a grinding stone and remove the husks using a winnowing fan.

Make and bottle

Combine the cleaned seeds with 3 pints of clear oil.
Bottle the mixture, adding a few cloves before sealing.

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.

Mustard + clovetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,829 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Clove + brandytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,362 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Mustard + brandytop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together132 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Mustard seed: Provides the main pungent flavour and the bulk of the paste once bruised.
Clear oil: Carries the ground seed and keeps it moist, slowing its drying and spoiling.
Cloves: Add warm aroma that complements the sharp mustard flavour.