Name: Cough Syrup
Ingredients: 1 cup brown sugar; 1 cup vinegar; 1 cup grated horseradish

Why it works: Vinegar and horseradish are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cough Syrup

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 cup grated horseradish

Directions

Combine brown sugar, vinegar, and grated horseradish in a bowl.
Mix well until the sugar is dissolved.
Store in an airtight container.
Take 1 teaspoon before each meal and before going to bed.

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.

Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + horseradishtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,314 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).