Name: Fine French Mustard
Ingredients: green tarragon leaves; cider vinegar

Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Fine French Mustard

Ingredients

green tarragon leaves
cider vinegar

Directions

Pick green tarragon leaves from the stalks and pack them tightly into a wide-mouthed glass jar until it is half full.
Fill the jar with the best cider vinegar and seal it with a cork.
Let it infuse for one to two weeks.
After infusion, pour the vinegar into a pitcher.

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.

Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,547 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Tarragon + cidertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together74 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).