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Corn Pickle

A pickled mixture of corn, cabbage, onions, peppers, celery, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Corn Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the corn off the ears and chop the celery as for salad.

  2. Grind the cabbage, onions, and peppers using a meat grinder.

Cook

  1. In a large pot, combine the ground mixture with vinegar and dry mustard.

  2. Boil for 30 minutes, then add turmeric just before finishing.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 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

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavor.
Dry mustard
Adds pungent, sharp flavor that carries through the boiled vegetables.
Turmeric
Adds yellow colour and a mild, earthy aroma to the finished pickle.
Corn
Supplies sweetness and crisp-tender texture to the pickle.

The step that matters

Adding the turmeric. Turmeric is added just before finishing because prolonged boiling dulls its colour and can make its flavor harsh. Adding it late keeps the pickle bright yellow and its aroma fresh.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Cauliflowerfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, pepper, mustard, corn, celery, vinegar, turmeric. 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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