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Mustard Pickle

A pickled vegetable mixture seasoned with a mustard-based dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and green beans share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 95 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mustard Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 180°F (82°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Cut all vegetables before measuring: slice cucumbers, halve tomatoes, cut green beans into 1‑inch lengths, and chop peppers.

  2. Soak all vegetables in brine overnight, then rinse in clear water for 2 hours.

  3. Let the vegetables stand in a mixture of 1 part vinegar and 1 part water for 15 minutes, then scald in the same liquid.

Make the dressing

  1. Mix the dry ingredients until smooth, then gradually add hot vinegar while stirring to form a smooth paste.

  2. Cook the dressing over a pan of water, stirring carefully until it thickens.

Pack and process

  1. Drain the vegetables thoroughly and pour the hot mustard dressing over them, mixing well.

  2. Pack the mixture into sterilized jars and process in a water bath at 180°F (82°C) for 25 minutes.

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. Cucumber + green beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together95 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  3. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the mustard dressing so it becomes a smooth, coating paste.
Powdered mustard
Supplies the sharp, pungent flavour that defines the pickle.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the vegetables and sharpens the flavour.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its characteristic yellow colour.

The step that matters

Cooking the dressing until it thickens. Flour thickens only when heated enough for its starch to swell, so stirring steadily over gentle heat prevents lumps and scorching while the dressing sets smooth.

Swap the green beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, onion, pepper, fig, vinegar, flour, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Green beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, onion, pepper, fig, vinegar, flour, 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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