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Tomato Soy

A pickled tomato and onion dish seasoned with spices and cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Tomato Soy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Layer sliced tomatoes and onions in an earthen vessel, sprinkling salt between each layer.

  2. Let it sit overnight.

  3. The next day, drain the salted water and place the layers in a kettle.

Cook

  1. Sprinkle the spices over the tomatoes and onions, then cover with cider vinegar.

  2. Cook slowly for 6 hours.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 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 relish and soften into a tender, moist base as they cook.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes and onions, firming them and concentrating the flavor.
Onions
Add savory depth and sweetness that mellows during the long slow cook.
Cider vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the finished relish.
Mustard seed
Contributes sharp, pungent heat and a pleasant texture when cooked.

The step that matters

Cook slowly for 6 hours. A long, gentle simmer lets the tomatoes break down and the vinegar and spices blend into the mixture. Cooking too hot or too briefly can leave the vegetables firm and the flavors harsh or uneven.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, clove, allspice, pepper, mustard, cider, vinegar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, clove, allspice, pepper, mustard, cider, vinegar. 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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