Skip to main content
Main

India Pickle

A vinegar-based pickle with mustard, spices, and sugar, boiled and then fermented with vegetables for three weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

India Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brine

  1. Combine vinegar, mustard, black pepper, cloves, allspice, turmeric, ginger, cayenne pepper, salt, and sugar in a pot.

  2. Boil the mixture for 20 minutes.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

Pickle and store

  1. Add your choice of vegetables.

  2. Cover tightly.

  3. If the liquid becomes thin, boil again.

  4. Add more vinegar.

  5. Let it sit for three weeks before using.

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Mustard
Adds pungent, sharp flavour and contributes body to the spiced brine.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and rounds out the spiced flavour.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic flavour to the brine.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat that builds as the pickle matures.

The step that matters

Let it sit for three weeks before using. Spices and vinegar need time to infuse the vegetables and mellow the sharp, raw flavours. Using the pickle early gives a harsher, less balanced taste.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, clove, allspice, turmeric, ginger, sugar):

  1. Mustardthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, clove, allspice, turmeric, ginger, sugar. 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 indian pickle recipes

East 23West 7 See all 56 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes