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Tomato Soy

A pickled green tomato relish seasoned with vinegar, spices, and onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Tomato Soy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Slice green tomatoes and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

  2. Let them drain in a large dish.

  3. Add half as much chopped onions as tomatoes.

Pickle

  1. Pour in enough vinegar to prevent burning and add spices to taste: allspice, black pepper, mustard, ginger, and red pepper.

  2. Boil for half an hour.

  3. Once cooled, pour off the vinegar and add fresh vinegar.

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 + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Form the bulk of the pickle, providing the firm body that holds its texture after cooking.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the sliced tomatoes so they drain and become less watery.
Onions
Add savory sharpness that balances the tart vinegar and sweetness of the tomatoes.
Vinegar
Acidic liquid that preserves the pickle and gives it its sour, tangy flavour.

The step that matters

Pour in enough vinegar to prevent burning. The mixture is boiled for a long time, so there must be enough liquid covering the tomatoes; without it the solids can scorch on the pan base and taint the flavour.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, vinegar, allspice, pepper, mustard, ginger. 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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