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Chopped Pickles

A pickled mixture of chopped green tomatoes and cabbage with vinegar, salt, mustard, pepper, and horseradish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chopped Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Wash the green tomatoes and cut off a small piece from each end.

  2. Slice the tomatoes, then chop them finely and place them in a large bowl.

  3. Mix the chopped tomatoes with 1 pint of coarse sea salt for every peck.

  4. Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.

  5. Drain the tomatoes thoroughly.

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Chop twice or three times as much cabbage finely.

  2. Mix the chopped cabbage with the same amount of salt.

  3. Add enough water to moisten the cabbage.

  4. Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.

  5. Drain the cabbage.

  6. Place the drained cabbage in separate jars and cover each jar with cold weak vinegar.

  7. Drain the vinegar again after 24 hours.

  8. Press the cabbage hard to extract all juice.

Pack and cover

  1. Mix the tomatoes and cabbage together and squeeze the mixture tightly.

  2. Place the mixture in a dry crock.

  3. Layer the mixture in a stone jar.

  4. Sprinkle pepper, whole mustard seed, and horse radish between layers.

  5. Cover with strong cider vinegar mixed with 1 teacup of sugar for each gallon.

  6. Place a saucer or pieces of broken china on top to keep the pickles submerged.

  7. If a white scum forms, drain the vinegar.

  8. Boil the vinegar and skim it.

  9. Pour the hot vinegar over the pickles.

Make the mustard

  1. For mustard, chop green garden peppers soaked in salt water overnight and drain them.

  2. For mustard, add 1 teaspoon of salt to a pint of mustard seed.

  3. Pour boiling water over the mustard seed and let the mixture stand for 15 minutes.

  4. Drain the mixture.

  5. Slice and chop horse radish finely.

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

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

  2. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + cidertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Mustard + horsetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together201 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  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
Provide the bulk of the pickle and, once salted, release moisture that softens the texture.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes and cabbage, firming them and helping preserve the pickle.
Cabbage
Adds crisp bulk and body that holds its texture through the pickling process.
Strong cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavor.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Whole mustard seed
Contributes a pungent, slightly bitter bite and aroma.

The step that matters

Drain and press the cabbage after the vinegar soak. Any water left in the cabbage dilutes the vinegar brine and weakens preservation, so squeezing it firmly before packing keeps the pickle crisp and well preserved.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, vinegar, mustard, pepper, cider, sugar, horse):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, vinegar, mustard, pepper, cider, sugar, horse. 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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