Name: Pickled Onions
Ingredients: small white onions; cold boiled white wine vinegar; salt; bay leaf

Why it works: White wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,776 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Pickled Onions

Ingredients

small white onions
cold boiled white wine vinegar
salt
bay leaf

Directions

Peel the small white onions, ensuring they are equal in size and not cut into.
Parboil the onions in plenty of water for five minutes, then immerse them in cold water.
Drain and dry the onions on a towel, removing any loose pieces.
Place the onions in glass jars with a little salt and one bay leaf in each jar.
Boil the drained vinegar, skim it well, and let it cool.
Pour the cooled vinegar over the onions to cover them and seal the jars tightly.
Store the jars in a cool place.

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.

White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,776 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Onion + white winetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,535 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).