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Mixed Pickle

A pickled mixture of cabbage, green tomatoes, onions, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mixed Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large kettle.

  2. Bring to a boil and cook well.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped cabbage
Forms the bulk of the pickle and stays crisp-tender when cooked briefly.
Chopped green tomatoes
Adds tart body and firm texture that holds up during cooking.
Chopped onions
Contributes sweetness and savory depth as they soften in the brine.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickle and sharpens the flavor.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharp vinegar with sweetness and rounded flavor.
White mustard seed
Adds pungent flavor and a slight bite that mellows during cooking.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil and cook well. Vegetables must be cooked long enough to soften and absorb the vinegar and spices, which also helps the pickle keep. Undercooked vegetables stay raw and can spoil sooner.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, onion, mustard, pepper, allspice, clove, sugar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, onion, mustard, pepper, allspice, clove, sugar. 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.

More mixed pickles recipes

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