Skip to main content
Main

Green Tomato Soy

A pickled relish of green tomatoes and onions with spices, vinegar, and mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Green Tomato Soy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the green tomatoes and onions thinly.

  2. Layer them in jars, sprinkling 1 tablespoon of salt between each layer.

  3. Let them stand for 24 hours.

Pack and cover

  1. Drain off the water and boil the mixture in vinegar for 10 to 15 minutes.

  2. Layer the tomatoes and onions back in jars with spices, a little sugar, and 1 tablespoon of sweet oil until filled.

  3. Mix the box of mustard in the vinegar and pour over the layers until covered.

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. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 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

Green tomatoes
Provide the bulk and firm texture of the pickle once salted and cooked.
White onions
Add sharpness and savory flavor that mellows during the salting and boiling.
Vinegar
Acidity preserves the pickle and gives it its tangy flavor.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes and onions, firming them and reducing moisture.
Mustard
Adds pungent, sharp flavor that blends into the vinegar brine.

The step that matters

Draining after the 24-hour salt rest. Salt draws out a large amount of water. Draining it fully and then boiling in vinegar firms the vegetables and keeps the pickle crisp rather than soggy and diluted.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, vinegar, pepper, clove, allspice, mustard):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, vinegar, pepper, clove, allspice, 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.

More green tomato pickles recipes

Sweet 20 See all 141 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipes