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Pickles

A pickled mix of celery and sweet peppers flavored with mustard, curry powder, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard 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 ↓

Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the celery and sweet peppers in a strong saltwater solution overnight.

  2. In the morning, drain the brine and cut the vegetables into shapes that fit into glass jars.

Scald and pickle

  1. Scald the vegetables in a weak saltwater solution. Do not cover while scalding.

  2. Combine the mustard and curry powder in the vinegar and bring to a boil.

  3. Place the pickles in jars and pour the hot liquid over them.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 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

Celery
Forms the crisp, crunchy body of the pickle.
Sweet peppers
Adds bulk, mild sweetness, and a firm bite to the pickle.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the vegetables.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that carries through the hot pickling liquid.
Curry powder
Contributes warm aroma and yellow color to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Overnight strong brine soak. Salt draws water out of the celery and peppers, firming their texture so they stay crisp after scalding. A soak that is too long or too weak can leave the vegetables limp or uneven.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, mustard, vinegar. 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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