Name: The Universal Cook-book
Ingredients: 1 handful horse-radish root cut small; 1 pound of brown sugar; 1 handful salt; 2 heads of cabbage; 2 ounces whole cassia; 1 ounce cloves; 1 pint of molasses; 3 tablespoonfuls salt; 2 cups vinegar; 1 cup sugar; 1 tablespoonful cloves; 1 tablespoonful celery seed; 1 head cabbage; 1 quart vinegar; 1 teaspoonful ground cloves; 1 teaspoonful cinnamon; 1 teaspoonful allspice; 1 teaspoonful tumeric; 1 quart cider vinegar; nine pounds fruit; 3 pounds brown sugar; 93 teaspoonful cinnamon; 1 teaspoonful cloves; 1 teaspoonful mace; four cloves; seven pounds damson plums; 1 pound brown sugar; 1 ounce cinnamon; five pounds currants; 4 pounds brown sugar

Why it works: Cassia and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 194 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

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.

Cassia + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together194 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Radish + cabbagetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together106 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Horse + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together529 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Radish + vinegartop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together508 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Radish + clovetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together196 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Small cucumbers: Forms the main pickled body; the overnight salt soak firms their texture.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the pickles.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
White onions: Adds savoury aroma and a mild sweetness as they soften in the brine.

The step that matters

Overnight soak in salt water. Salt draws water out of the cucumbers and onions through osmosis, which firms their texture so they stay crisp after pickling. Skipping or shortening the soak leaves the pickles softer.

Swap the cassia

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (horse, radish, sugar, cabbage, clove, molasses, vinegar):

Cinnamonfits better
Allspicefits better
Gingerfits better
Cassiathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against horse, radish, sugar, cabbage, clove, molasses, vinegar. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cloves	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery Seed	1 stalk (40g)	6
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Allspice	1 tsp ground (1.9g)	5
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Cassia	not in our table	0
Cider	not in our table	0
Fruit	not in our table	0
Mace	not in our table	0

The Universal Cook-book