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Yellow Pickle

A pickled cabbage dish flavored with mustard seeds, celery seed, coriander, pepper, ginger, turmeric, and brown sugar in cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Yellow Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the spiced vinegar

  1. Combine the black mustard seed, white mustard seed, celery seed, coriander, white pepper, green ginger, turmeric, and brown sugar in a large bowl.

  2. Add the cider vinegar to the mixture.

  3. Set the mixture in the sun.

Brine the cabbages

  1. Quarter the cabbages.

  2. Place the quartered cabbages in a tub.

  3. Make a strong brine.

  4. Boil the brine.

  5. Pour the hot brine over the cabbages.

  6. Let the cabbages stand for 24 hours.

  7. Repeat the brining process.

  8. On the third day, spread the cabbages on a board.

  9. Salt the cabbages slightly.

  10. Let the cabbages sit in the hot sun for four days, avoiding dew.

Pack and serve

  1. Transfer the cabbages to a jar.

  2. Pour the prepared vinegar over the cabbages while boiling hot.

  3. Taste to check if the pickles have softened and absorbed the vinegar before serving.

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. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Coriander + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,253 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Black mustard seed
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that deepens as the pickle matures.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cabbage and gives the pickle its sour bite.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness and a molasses note.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its characteristic yellow color and an earthy flavor.
Cabbages
Form the main body of the pickle, softening and absorbing the brine and vinegar.
Celery seed
Contributes a savory, herbal aroma that complements the mustard seeds.

The step that matters

Pouring the boiling vinegar over the cabbages. The vinegar must be boiling hot when poured so it penetrates the cabbage and begins softening it. Cooler vinegar can leave the pickle crisp and poorly flavored, and the acidity must be strong enough to keep the pickle safe.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, celery, coriander, ginger, turmeric, sugar, cider):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, celery, coriander, ginger, turmeric, sugar, cider. 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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