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Mustard Pickle

A pickled vegetable mixture flavored with mustard, turmeric, and cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 584 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Mustard Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine cucumbers, onions, green tomatoes, cauliflower, and green peppers in a large bowl with salt and water.

  2. Let stand overnight.

Cook and dress

  1. In the morning, drain the vegetables and place them in the same water on the stove.

  2. Scald until tender, about 20 minutes.

  3. Drain off the water and mix in the cider vinegar, turmeric, and mustard.

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. Cucumber + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Cauliflower + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together514 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  4. Cucumber + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,102 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that gives the pickles their sharp, preserving tang.
Mustard
Adds pungent flavor and its seeds contribute to the sharp, savory character of the pickles.
Turmeric
Gives the pickles their bright yellow color and a mild, earthy aroma.
Cauliflower
Provides firm, bulky pieces that hold their texture after scalding and soak up the dressing.

The step that matters

Scald until tender, about 20 minutes. Scalding softens the vegetables enough to absorb the vinegar dressing while keeping them firm. Overcooking turns them mushy, so they should be tender but still hold their shape.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, tomato, cauliflower, pepper, cider, vinegar, turmeric):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Broccolifits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, tomato, cauliflower, pepper, cider, vinegar, turmeric. 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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