Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Cayenne Vinegar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the vinegar
Mix the vinegar and cayenne pepper in a bottle.
Let it stand for 1 month, shaking the bottle daily.
Strain and store
When ready, strain into well-corked bottles and store for use.
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.
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Vinegar
- Acts as the liquid base that extracts and carries the pepper's heat and flavour.
- Cayenne pepper
- Infuses the vinegar with its capsaicin heat and pungent flavour over time.
The step that matters
Letting it stand for the full month with daily shaking. Heat and flavour are drawn out slowly by the acid, and shaking spreads the pepper through the liquid so the infusion is even. Cutting the rest short leaves a weak, uneven vinegar.
“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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