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Chopped Tomato Pickle

A pickle made from finely chopped green tomatoes, salt, vinegar, cloves, celery seed, and onions, simmered until just scalding.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chopped Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Salt the tomatoes

  1. Layer the chopped tomatoes and salt alternately in a stone jar.

  2. Let the jar stand overnight.

  3. Drain off the accumulated water.

Make the pickle

  1. Cover the tomatoes with vinegar.

  2. Add the whole cloves, celery seed, and chopped onions.

  3. Heat the mixture on the stove until it just scalds, but do not let it boil.

  4. Allow the pickle to cool before using.

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. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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 and release water when salted, leaving firmer pieces.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes, firming them and helping preserve the pickle.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavour.
Whole cloves
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickle.
Celery seed
Adds a savoury, earthy aroma that complements the tomatoes.
Small onions
Add sweetness and savoury flavour to the pickle.

The step that matters

Heating without boiling. Heating the mixture until it just scalds, without boiling, warms the vinegar enough to blend the spices while keeping the tomatoes firm. Boiling would soften them further and can drive off vinegar's acidity and aroma.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, celery, onion. 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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