Name: Artichoke Pickles
Ingredients: 1 pk. artichokes; 2 pts. vinegar; 2 large onions; 2 cups sugar; 1 tbsp. white mustard seed; 1 tbsp. celery seed; 4 tsp. salt; 1 tsp. turmeric; 1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Artichoke Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Grind the artichokes and onions.
Combine all ingredients in a pot.
Cook until done, 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.

Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Artichoke + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together116 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,279 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Artichoke + turmerictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together41 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,356 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Artichokes: Form the bulk of the pickle and carry its texture once ground.
Vinegar: Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickle.
Onions: Add pungent flavor and body to the ground mixture.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Salt: Seasons the pickle and draws out moisture from the vegetables.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (artichoke, vinegar, sugar, mustard, celery, turmeric, pepper):

Horseradishfits better
Lettucefits better
Shallotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against artichoke, vinegar, sugar, mustard, celery, turmeric, pepper. 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.