Name: To Prepare Horseradish for Winter
Ingredients: 1 cup grated horseradish; 2 tablespoons white sugar; ½ teaspoon salt; 1½ pints cold vinegar; 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish; 2 teaspoons olive oil (or melted butter or cream); 1 teaspoon prepared mustard

Why it works: Horseradish and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

To Prepare Horseradish for Winter

Ingredients

1 cup grated horseradish
2 tablespoons white sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1½ pints cold vinegar
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons olive oil (or melted butter or cream)
1 teaspoon prepared mustard

Directions

Make the sauce

Mix 1 cup grated horseradish, 2 tablespoons white sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1½ pints cold vinegar.
Bottle and seal the mixture.

Finish the sauce

Take 2 tablespoons of the prepared horseradish.
Add 2 teaspoons olive oil (or melted butter or cream).
Add 1 teaspoon prepared mustard.

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.

Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,832 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,950 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Horseradish + olivetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together475 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Grated horseradish: Provides the sharp, pungent heat that defines the sauce.
Cold vinegar: Acidity that preserves the sauce and sharpens its flavour.
White sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and horseradish with sweetness.
Olive oil: Adds fat that softens the bite and gives the sauce a smoother texture.
Prepared mustard: Adds extra pungency and depth that complements the horseradish.