Name: Eschalot, or Garlic Vinegar
Ingredients: 4 to 6 ounces of eschalots, peeled and bruised; 2 to 4 ounces of garlic, peeled and bruised; 1 quart of vinegar

Why it works: Garlic and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,115 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Eschalot, or Garlic Vinegar

Ingredients

4 to 6 ounces of eschalots, peeled and bruised
2 to 4 ounces of garlic, peeled and bruised
1 quart of vinegar

Directions

Prepare

Place the eschalots or garlic in a jar.
Pour the vinegar over the eschalots or garlic.
Seal the jar tightly.

Steep and strain

Let it sit for 2 to 3 weeks.
Strain the vinegar for use.

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.

Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,115 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Eschalots: Add a mild, sweet onion flavour that softens as the vinegar steeps.
Garlic: Adds pungent, aromatic flavour that is extracted slowly into the vinegar.
Vinegar: Acidic liquid that extracts and carries the flavour of the eschalots and garlic.

The step that matters

Let it sit for 2 to 3 weeks. Flavour compounds in alliums move into an acidic liquid slowly. Straining too early gives a weak, harsh vinegar, so the full steeping time matters.

“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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Eschalot, or Garlic Vinegar