Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Green Pepper Mangoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peppers
Select firm green peppers and add a few red ones for color.
Remove the tops and seeds from the peppers.
Soak the peppers overnight in salt water.
Fill and pickle
Fill the peppers with chopped cabbage and green tomatoes, seasoned with salt, mustard seed, and ground cloves.
Tie the tops back on the peppers.
Boil enough vinegar to cover the peppers with 1 cup of brown sugar.
Pour the vinegar mixture over the peppers for three mornings, then seal.
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.
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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Firm green peppers
- Form the pickling vessels and provide the main crisp, vegetal body of the dish.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the peppers and gives the pickle its tang.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar.
- Chopped cabbage
- Fills the peppers, adding crunch and bulk to the filling.
- Green tomatoes
- Adds firm texture and tart flavor to the filling.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cabbage, mustard, clove, vinegar, sugar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Radishfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cabbage, mustard, clove, vinegar, sugar. 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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