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Chopped Pickle

A pickled mixture of cabbage, green tomatoes, celery, peppers, and spices, preserved in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Chopped Pickle

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Chopped Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Chop the cabbage, green tomatoes, green peppers, and celery separately.

  2. Sprinkle salt over the chopped tomatoes and let them stand overnight.

  3. Drain the tomatoes and mix all ingredients well.

Cook and jar

  1. Cover the mixture with vinegar and boil gently until tender.

  2. Pack into jars and cover with horseradish.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Adds bulk and a crisp, crunchy texture to the pickle.
Green tomatoes
Provide bulk and a firm, tart body that holds its shape.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Supplies acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the mixture.
Celery
Contributes a crisp texture and a mild, savoury flavour.
Green peppers
Add a fresh, slightly bitter flavour and some crunch.

The step that matters

Boil gently until tender. Gentle heat softens the vegetables while keeping their shape; a hard boil breaks them down into mush. The vinegar must fully cover the mixture so the acidity is even throughout.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, ginger, pepper, clove, celery, cinnamon, sugar):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, ginger, pepper, clove, celery, cinnamon, 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.

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