Name: Cider Vinegar
Ingredients: 6 quarts of rye; strong hard cider; ½ cup whiskey; water; 2 gallons of whiskey; 1 quart of strong yeast; 2 pounds of powdered diacod; 1 pound of brown sugar

Why it works: Rye and sugar work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 535 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Cider Vinegar

Ingredients

Directions

Stir 6 quarts of rye into a barrel of strong hard cider.
Add ½ cup of whiskey and cover the barrel, leaving the bung loose.
Place the barrel in a sunny spot for 4 weeks.
When ready, draw off a portion and refill with the same quantity of cider and add ½ cup of whiskey.
For a stronger vinegar, mix cider with 1 pound of honey per gallon and let it stand for 5-6 months.
For white vinegar, mix 5 gallons of water, 2 gallons of whiskey, and 1 quart of strong yeast, stirring in 2 pounds of powdered diacod.
Leave the bung loose until fermentation is complete, then cover the bung-hole slightly to keep out dust.
After 4 months, draw off the vinegar.

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.

Rye + sugartop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together535 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Rye + cidertop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Cider + sugartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,308 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).