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Pickled Capsicums

Pickled capsicums preserved in vinegar, mace, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pickled Capsicums

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pods

  1. Gather the capsicum pods with the stalks before they turn red.

  2. Slit them down the side with a small knife and remove the seeds.

  3. Soak the pods in strong brine for 3 days, changing the brine every morning.

  4. Lay the pods on a cloth, cover with another cloth, and let them dry completely.

Pickle and seal

  1. Boil enough vinegar to cover the pods with mace and nutmeg.

  2. Place the pods in a jar and pour the cooled vinegar over them.

  3. Seal the jar with a wet bladder tied over it to exclude air.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes
  3. Vinegar + nutmegtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,864 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

Vinegar
Acidic liquid that preserves the pods and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Mace
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling vinegar.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling vinegar.

The step that matters

Drying the pods completely. Any moisture left on the pods dilutes the vinegar in the jar and can encourage spoilage, so the pods must be fully dry before pickling.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Clovefits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mace. 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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