Name: Ripe Tomato Pickles
Ingredients: smooth, ripe tomatoes; pure 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 ↓

Ripe Tomato Pickles

Ingredients

smooth, ripe tomatoes
pure cider vinegar

Directions

Wash the tomatoes in cold water.
Prick each tomato with a coarse needle.
Pack the tomatoes tightly in a stone jar until full.
Heat enough cider vinegar to cover the tomatoes until boiling.
Pour the boiling vinegar over the tomatoes.
Place a piece of smooth brown paper over the jar with the egg white side down, ensuring it covers completely.
Pinch the edges of the paper tightly and secure it with string.
Once cool, store the jar in a cool, dark place.

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).
Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Tomato + cidertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together524 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).