Name: Spanish Pickle
Ingredients: 2 dozen ripe cucumbers, cut in large pieces; 2 heads cabbage, chopped fine; 3 dozen small onions, chopped fine; 8 green peppers, chopped fine; 6 stalks celery, chopped fine; ½ cup coarse sea salt; 1 ounce white mustard seed; 1 ounce celery seed

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 ↓

Spanish Pickle

Ingredients

2 dozen ripe cucumbers, cut in large pieces
2 heads cabbage, chopped fine
3 dozen small onions, chopped fine
8 green peppers, chopped fine
6 stalks celery, chopped fine
½ cup coarse sea salt
1 ounce white mustard seed
1 ounce celery seed

Directions

Combine cucumbers, cabbage, onions, green peppers, and celery in a large bowl.
Dissolve the coarse sea salt in water and pour over the vegetables.
Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.
Drain the vegetables and place them in a kettle.
Add the white mustard seed and celery seed.
Mix well and proceed with your preferred pickling method.

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,281 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 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

Swap the onion

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

Lettucefits better
Horseradishfits better
Broccolifits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cabbage, pepper, celery, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.