Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Salsa Pimiento Dulce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peppers
Boil the sweet red peppers in water until tender.
Remove all seeds from the peppers.
Rub the peppers to a paste with the garlic and moisten with a little water.
Finish the salsa
Heat the sweet oil in a frying pan until hot.
Stir in the pepper paste and add salt and vinegar to taste.
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.
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,090 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,115 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Sweet red peppers
- Provide the main body and sweet flavour of the salsa once softened into a paste.
- Sweet oil
- Carries flavour and gives the salsa a smooth, rich mouthfeel when heated.
- Garlic
- Adds sharp, pungent aroma that mellows the sweetness of the peppers.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, garlic, vinegar):
- Parsleyfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Basilfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, garlic, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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