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India Pickle

A vinegar-based pickle with curry powder, turmeric, mustard, ginger, shallots, garlic, cayenne pepper, and mustard seed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Turmeric and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

India Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pickle

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the vinegar, curry powder, turmeric, mustard, and salad oil if using.

  2. Add the ginger, shallots, garlic, coarse sea salt, cayenne pepper, and mustard seed to the mixture.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a jar and cover it with a lid.

Rest and use

  1. Place the jar by the fire for three days, shaking it often.

  2. After three days, the pickle is ready to use.

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. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Mustard + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together859 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Turmeric + shallottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together282 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Turmeric + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidic base that preserves the pickle and sharpens its flavor.
Curry powder
Supplies the main spice flavor and aroma of the pickle.
Turmeric
Adds a yellow colour and earthy, slightly bitter flavor.
Mustard seed
Contributes pungent, sharp flavor that mellows as the pickle rests.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma and savory depth to the pickle.
Cayenne pepper
Provides heat and sharp pungency to the pickle.

The step that matters

Shaking the jar during the three days. Frequent shaking distributes the salt, spices and vegetables through the vinegar so the flavors blend evenly. Without it, solids can settle and the pickle may taste uneven.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, turmeric, mustard, shallot, garlic, pepper):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, turmeric, mustard, shallot, garlic, 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.

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