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Mango Pickle

A pickled mango dish seasoned with saffron, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,082 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mango Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mangoes

  1. Peel the mangoes and cut them into quarters, removing the kernels.

  2. Pound the salt and mix it well with the mangoes; let them soak for 3 to 4 days, shaking them daily.

Make the pickle

  1. Heat the oil in a clean pot until boiling.

  2. Add the sliced ginger, garlic, curry leaves, and ground spices; fry for a few minutes.

  3. Add the mangoes, washed well in the brine, and strain a little of the brine in.

  4. Add the vinegar and mix well.

  5. Bring to a boil once or twice.

  6. Remove from heat.

  7. When cool, transfer to jars; this will be ready to use in one month.

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. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Saffron + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together223 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mango + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together280 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Mangoes
Provide the main body and tangy flavour of the pickle.
Salt
Draws out moisture and preserves the mangoes during the brine soak.
Mustard oil or sesame oil
Carries the spices' flavour and acts as a preserving layer over the pickle.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the pickle.
Mustard seed
Releases pungent aroma when fried in hot oil, giving the pickle its sharp character.
Garlic
Adds pungency and aroma that mellow during frying.

The step that matters

Adding the mangoes and vinegar to the hot spiced oil. Mangoes added to oil that is too hot or too cool can cook unevenly or fail to absorb flavour. Vinegar added then boiled briefly adds acidity that helps keep the pickle stable in storage.

Swap the mango

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (saffron, mustard, garlic, pepper, ginger, cumin, vinegar):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Mangothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against saffron, mustard, garlic, pepper, ginger, cumin, vinegar. 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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