Name: Pickles, &C
Ingredients: 1 cup white distilled vinegar; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 1 teaspoon mace; 1 teaspoon white pepper; 1-2 bay leaves

Why it works: Mace and white pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

Pickles, &C

Ingredients

Directions

Boil water until near boiling, then drain and dry the ingredients.
Pour the boiled vinegar mixture over the ingredients and let it cool.
Store in a jar and ensure the mixture is covered completely.
They will be ready to use in six months.

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.

Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,695 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,154 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,415 recipes