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Mixed Mustard Pickles

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, onions, green beans, green tomatoes, cauliflower, and peppers in a mustard and vinegar brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mixed Mustard Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the cucumbers, onions, green beans, green tomatoes, and cauliflower.

Make the pickle

  1. In a large pot, combine the boiled cider vinegar, flour, turmeric, mustard, sugar, and cold vinegar.

  2. Add the prepared vegetables and peppers to the mixture.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.

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. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,102 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cucumber + green beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together95 recipes

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

  4. Green beans + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together113 recipes

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

  5. Flour + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,637 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the main crisp vegetable body of the pickle.
Flour
Thickens the vinegar mixture so it clings to the vegetables.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its yellow color and a mild earthy aroma.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that balances the sugar and vinegar.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and flavors the pickle.

The step that matters

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Flour can settle and scorch on the bottom of the pot, and it thickens only as it heats. Stirring keeps it smooth and evenly heated so the sauce thickens without lumps or burning.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cider, vinegar, flour, green beans, turmeric, tomato):

  1. Cauliflowerfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cider, vinegar, flour, green beans, turmeric, tomato. 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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