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German or Green Tomato Pickle

A pickled mixture of cabbage, green tomatoes, onions, vinegar, spices, and mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

German or Green Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine chopped cabbage, sliced green tomatoes, and chopped onions in a large pot.

  2. Add vinegar, cloves, allspice, ground ginger, celery seed, mace, green pepper, salt, sugar, and mustard.

  3. Cook the mixture over medium heat until thoroughly done, stirring occasionally.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  5. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 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

Green tomatoes
Provide the main bulk and a firm, tart base that holds its shape in the pickle.
Cabbage
Adds crisp texture and body that softens gently during the long cooking.
Vinegar
Supplies the acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavour.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and rounds out the sweet-sour flavour.
Onions
Contribute savoury depth and moisture as they soften into the mixture.
Mustard
Adds pungent, sharp flavour that complements the spices.

The step that matters

Cook until thoroughly done. The mixture must simmer long enough for the vegetables to soften and the vinegar and sugar to blend. Stirring occasionally prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot as the sugar thickens the liquid.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, onion, vinegar, clove, allspice, ginger, celery):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, onion, vinegar, clove, allspice, ginger, celery. 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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