Name: Cucumbers in Chili Vinegar
Ingredients: 2 to 3 tablespoons salad oil; 1 to 3 dessertspoons chili vinegar; coarse sea salt; pepper

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 ↓

Cucumbers in Chili Vinegar

Ingredients

2 to 3 tablespoons salad oil
1 to 3 dessertspoons chili vinegar
coarse sea salt
pepper

Directions

Prepare

Soak cucumbers in water for a few minutes, then drain.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and pepper.

Dress and serve

Add salad oil and toss to coat evenly.
Pour chili vinegar over the cucumbers and mix well.
Transfer to a clean dish and serve.

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 + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Salad oil: Coats the cucumbers, carrying flavor and helping the dressing cling evenly.
Chili vinegar: Adds acidity and chili flavor that seasons the cucumbers.

“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.