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Mustard Pickle

A pickled vegetable mixture flavored with mustard, turmeric, and celery seed, preserved in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 602 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mustard Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Slice cucumbers.

  2. Halve tomatoes.

  3. Cut string beans into 1-inch lengths.

  4. Soak all vegetables in brine overnight.

  5. Rinse vegetables in clear water for 2 hours.

  6. Soak vegetables in a mixture of half vinegar and half water for 15 minutes.

  7. Scald vegetables in the same liquid.

Make the dressing

  1. Mix the dry ingredients until smooth.

  2. Slowly add hot vinegar while stirring to form a paste.

  3. Cook the dressing over a pan of water.

  4. Stir the dressing carefully until it thickens.

Combine and jar

  1. Drain the vegetables thoroughly.

  2. Pour the hot mustard dressing over the vegetables, mixing well.

  3. Pack the mixture into sterilized jars.

  4. Process 10-ounce jars for 20 minutes at 180°F (82°C).

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 + beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

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

  2. Onion + beanstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Beans + figtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together39 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the main crisp vegetable body that holds its texture in the pickle.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the vegetables and sharpens the flavour.
Flour
Thickens the dressing into a smooth, spoonable mustard paste.
Powdered mustard
Gives the dressing its sharp, pungent flavour and yellow colour.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with sweetness.
Turmeric
Adds yellow colour and a warm, earthy aroma to the dressing.

The step that matters

Adding the hot vinegar to the dry ingredients. Pouring the vinegar in slowly while stirring keeps the flour and mustard from clumping. Stirring continuously lets the starch hydrate evenly so the dressing thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, beans, 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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