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Chopped Tomato Pickle

A pickle made from chopped green tomatoes, salt, vinegar, cloves, celery seed, and onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chopped Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Salt the tomatoes

  1. In a stone jar, layer the chopped tomatoes and salt alternately.

  2. Let them stand overnight.

  3. Drain off the accumulated water.

Pickle

  1. Cover the tomatoes with vinegar.

  2. Add the cloves, celery seed, and chopped onions.

  3. Heat the mixture on the stove until it is scalding but not boiling.

  4. Allow to cool before using.

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. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Provide the bulk of the pickle and release water when salted.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes, firming them and concentrating flavor.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the tomatoes and gives the pickle its sharp taste.
Whole cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice flavor to the pickle.
Celery seed
Adds a savory, aromatic flavor that complements the tomatoes.
Onions
Add sharpness and savory depth to the pickle.

The step that matters

Drain off the accumulated water. Salt draws liquid out of the tomatoes. If the water is not drained well, it dilutes the vinegar and can leave the pickle soft and watery.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, vinegar, celery, onion):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, celery, onion. 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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