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Hodge Podge

A pickled mix of cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, and peppers seasoned with salt, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard 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 ↓

Hodge Podge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Chop equal portions of cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, and green peppers, then mix all together.

  2. Salt heavily.

  3. Let stand for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.

Prepare the onions

  1. Chop onions finely.

  2. Salt onions heavily.

  3. Pour boiling water over onions.

  4. Let onions cool.

  5. Squeeze out excess water from onions.

  6. Add onions to the vegetable mixture.

Pickle and pack

  1. Drain the mixture.

  2. Pack the mixture into a stone jar.

  3. Pour cold vinegar over the mixture to cover it.

  4. Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.

  5. Squeeze out until dry.

  6. Add enough fresh vinegar to cover the pickles.

  7. Add pickles to boiling vinegar.

  8. Boil for no more than 15 minutes.

  9. Pack into jars.

  10. Tie them up.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the pickle and keeps a crisp texture after salting and brining.
Green tomatoes
Adds tartness and body to the mixture as the vegetables soften in the vinegar.
Green cucumbers
Contributes crunch and moisture that the salt draws out during standing.
Onions
Adds sharp flavor that mellows during brining and pickling.
Celery seed
Adds a warm, aromatic celery flavor to the pickling liquid.
Mustard seed
Adds pungent, slightly bitter aroma that infuses the vinegar.

The step that matters

Squeezing out the salted vegetables until dry. Salt draws water out of vegetables by osmosis. If excess liquid remains, the vinegar gets diluted and the pickles can turn soft and spoil sooner.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, tomato, cucumber, celery, pepper, onion, mustard):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, tomato, cucumber, celery, pepper, onion, mustard. 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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