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Preserve

Mango Pickle Stuffing

A spiced pickle mixture of mustard seed, onions, sugar and vinegar, combined with sliced cucumbers and mangoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mango Pickle Stuffing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine white mustard seed, black mustard seed, chopped onions, mace, nutmeg, turmeric, cinnamon, celery seed, and ginger in a large bowl.

  2. Add oil, cloves, allspice, brown sugar, and horseradish to the mixture.

  3. Incorporate slices of cucumbers and slices of mangoes.

  4. Mix in vinegar to prevent molding.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Turmeric + cinnamontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,197 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

Mustard seed
Provides the sharp, pungent bite that defines a pickle-style filling.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, balancing the sharpness of the vinegar and spices.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the mixture against spoilage.
Chopped onions
Contribute moisture and savory depth to the filling.

The step that matters

Mix in vinegar to prevent molding. Vinegar's acidity is what inhibits mold and bacterial growth in this moist mixture, so it should be fully incorporated throughout rather than left on the surface. Uneven mixing leaves pockets where spoilage can start.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, onion, nutmeg, turmeric, cinnamon, celery, ginger):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, onion, nutmeg, turmeric, cinnamon, celery, ginger. 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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