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Chopped Pickle

A pickled mixture of cabbage, cucumber, and onion seasoned with spices and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Chopped Pickle

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Chopped Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mustard seed

  1. Scald the 2½ pounds white mustard seed in salt and water.

  2. Let the mustard seed stand overnight.

  3. Drain the mustard seed in the morning.

  4. Place the drained mustard seed near the fire to dry.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Chop the onions, cabbage, and cucumbers very finely.

  2. Sprinkle salt over the chopped vegetables.

  3. Place each jar of salted vegetables in a separate jar to stand until night.

  4. Drain the vegetables in bags until morning.

Make and pack the pickle

  1. Mix the drained vegetables together.

  2. Add the spices and sugar to the mixture.

  3. Add enough cold vinegar to mix well.

  4. Put the mixture into jars.

  5. Cover the jars with vinegar.

  6. Let the jars stand for 24 hours.

  7. Cover again with vinegar and seal for 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.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Cabbage + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 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

White mustard seed
Provides the sharp, pungent flavour that defines the pickle.
Cabbage
Supplies the bulk and crisp texture of the chopped pickle.
Cucumbers
Adds crunch and fresh, mild body to the chopped mixture.
Onions
Contributes savoury depth and bulk to the chopped vegetables.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with sweetness.
Cold vinegar
Acts as the preserving liquid that gives the pickle its acidity.

The step that matters

Draining the salted vegetables. Salt draws water out of chopped vegetables through osmosis. Draining them thoroughly before adding vinegar keeps the pickle crisp and stops excess liquid from diluting the preserving brine.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, cucumber, onion, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, celery):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, cucumber, onion, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, celery. 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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