Name: 30 Flavouring Vinegars
Ingredients: 1 ounce black pepper; ½ ounce allspice; ¼ ounce nutmeg; 1 pint spirit

Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

30 Flavouring Vinegars

Ingredients

1 ounce black pepper
½ ounce allspice
¼ ounce nutmeg
1 pint spirit

Directions

Finely pound the black pepper, allspice, and nutmeg.
Infuse the spices in 1 pint of spirit for ten days.
Strain the mixture and bottle it.
Use the spice for flavoring as long as it lasts.

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.

Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,331 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Nutmeg + spirittop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together107 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Allspice + spirittop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).