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East India Pickle

A preserved mixture of various vegetables pickled in vinegar and spices, stored in a stone jar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,053 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

East India Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Salt the vegetables

  1. Slice a small white cabbage, removing the stalk; cut cauliflower into neat branches, leaving out the large stalk; slice cucumbers, carrots, beets (nicked round edges), button onions, string beans, radish pods, barberries, cherries, green grapes, nasturtians, capsicums, bell peppers, etc.

  2. Sprinkle all vegetables with salt and place them in a large earthen pan.

  3. Pour scalding salt and water over the vegetables.

  4. Let the vegetables lie in the brine for four days, turning them over each day.

Dry the vegetables

  1. Remove the vegetables, wash each separately in vinegar, and wipe them carefully with a cloth.

  2. Lay the vegetables on sieves before the fire and dry them thoroughly.

Make and infuse the pickle liquor

  1. In a close jar, combine two quarts of the best vinegar with an ounce and a half of white ginger root (scraped and sliced), an ounce and a half of long pepper, two ounces of peeled shalots or little button onions (cut in pieces), half an ounce of peeled garlic, an ounce of turmeric, and two ounces of mustard seed bruised (or mustard powder).

  2. Let the mixture infuse for a week in a warm place or by the fire.

Pack and store

  1. After the vegetables are prepared and dried, put them into a large stone jar or smaller jars and strain the pickle liquor over them.

  2. Ensure the liquid covers the vegetables completely to prevent spoilage.

  3. Put a tablespoonful of sweet oil on top of each jar and secure them with a large cork and leather.

  4. If the vegetables absorb the liquor and there is danger of insufficient liquid, prepare more seasoned vinegar and pour it over them.

  5. Add small mangoes, plums, peaches, or apricots as desired, and keep the pickle for up to two years.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

10Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
1 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot 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.

By Eliza Leslie. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Vinegar + garlictop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Forms the acidic brine and liquor that preserves the vegetables and gives them their sharp flavour.
Salt
Draws water out of the vegetables during the brining, firming them and helping preserve them.
Mustard seed
Adds pungent, sharp flavour to the pickle liquor as it infuses.
Shalots
Contribute mild onion-like aroma and sweetness to the infused pickle liquor.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma and savoury depth to the pickle liquor.

The step that matters

Drying the vegetables thoroughly before packing. Any water left on the vegetables dilutes the vinegar liquor and can encourage spoilage, so they must be fully dry before the liquor is poured over them.

Swap the garlic

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mustard. 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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