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Martynia PICKLEs

Pickled young Martynia pods preserved in a vinegar and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Horseradish and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Martynia PICKLEs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pods

  1. Select young and tender martynia pods.

  2. Soak pods in brine made with 1 teacup salt and 1 gallon water for 3 days, keeping them submerged with a plate.

  3. Drain the pods and place them in a preserving kettle.

Make the pickle

  1. Cover with equal parts cider vinegar and water, bring to a boil, then let stand for 30 minutes.

  2. Drain and discard the weakened vinegar, then add 1.5 times the amount of pure cider vinegar.

  3. For each gallon of vinegar, add 1 teacup sugar, ½ teacup grated onion, ½ teacup grated horseradish, 1 chopped green pepper, ½ teacup mustard seed, 1 tablespoon prepared mustard, 1 tablespoon whole cloves, 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, and ½ ounce mace in a cheesecloth bag.

  4. Boil the mixture for 15 minutes and pour over the packed martynias in a jar.

  5. Place the spice bag on top, weigh it down with a plate, and seal the jar once cooled.

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. Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  4. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Onion + horseradishtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Martynia pods
Main vegetable; brining firms and tenderizes the pods so they stay crisp after pickling.
Cider vinegar
Provides the sour acidity that preserves the pods and gives the pickle its bright flavor.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Horseradish
Adds pungent heat that mellows as the pickle sits.
White mustard seed
Contributes sharp, pungent flavor that blooms in the hot vinegar.

The step that matters

Discarding the weakened vinegar. Draining off the first vinegar removes liquid diluted by the brine and pod juices, so the fresh, full-strength vinegar can properly acidify and preserve the pods.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, sugar, horseradish, pepper, mustard, clove):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Radishfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, sugar, horseradish, pepper, mustard, clove. 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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