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Salad

Lemon Pickle Relish

A pickled lemon relish with garlic, hot pepper, and oil, preserved in sterilized jars.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Lemon Pickle Relish

Time5 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Salt the lemon wedges on all sides and pack into a quart jar.

  2. Cover the jar and let stand for 4 to 5 days at room temperature.

  3. Add the garlic and pepper, mixing them through the lemons.

Add the oil and rest

  1. Heat the oil in a saucepan until very hot and pour it over lemons.

  2. Cover and let stand another 4 days at room temperature.

Jar and process

  1. Pack into hot, sterilized jars.

  2. Process 5 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

173Calories
2 gProtein
14 gFat
12 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saladnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + garlictop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,893 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Lemon
Provides the main body and sour citrus flavour, softened by salt curing over several days.
Pickling or kosher salt
Draws moisture out of the lemons and helps preserve them during the long resting period.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and spreads through the lemons during resting.
Crushed hot red bell pepper
Adds heat and pepper flavour to the relish.
Salad oil
Coats the lemons and carries flavour, adding richness to the relish.

The step that matters

Heating the oil until very hot. Very hot oil releases the aromas of the garlic and pepper when poured over them, while the lemons and jar must stay sealed and rest properly for the flavours to blend and the relish to keep safely.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, clove, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, clove, pepper. 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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