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Pepper Hash

A pickled cabbage and pepper mixture seasoned with mustard seed and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pepper Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the cabbage and peppers.

  2. Combine them with mustard seed in jars.

  3. Heat the vinegar.

  4. Pour the hot vinegar over the mixture and mix well.

Pickle and seal

  1. Let it stand overnight.

  2. Pour off the liquid.

  3. Heat the liquid again.

  4. Pour the heated liquid over the mixture.

  5. Wait until cooled.

  6. Seal the jars.

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.

  1. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the hash and gives it a crisp, crunchy texture.
Peppers
Add sweetness, colour and a mild heat to the pickle.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, slightly bitter aroma and flavour to the pickle.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its tang.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot vinegar over the mixture. Vinegar must be hot enough to soften the vegetables and draw in flavour, while the acid penetrates them. Pouring it off and reheating the liquid repeats this, so the brine stays acidic enough to keep the pickle safe when sealed.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, mustard, vinegar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Radishfits about as well
  3. Lettucefits about as well
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, mustard, 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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