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Ripe Tomato Pickle

A pickled relish made from ripe tomatoes, celery, peppers, onion, salt, sugar, mustard seed, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ripe Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pickle

  1. Mix all ingredients in the order given.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a stone jar and cover it.

Rest and store

  1. Let the mixture stand for one week before using.

  2. Store in a cool place; it can be kept for up to one year.

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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 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

Tomatoes
Form the bulk of the pickle and supply moisture and body.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it a sharp flavour.
Sugar
Balances the acidity and sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the vegetables while helping preserve them.
Mustard seed
Adds pungent flavour and a mild bite as the pickle matures.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand for one week. The pickle needs time for the vinegar, salt and sugar to penetrate the vegetables and blend the spices. Using it too early gives harsh, unbalanced flavour.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, pepper, sugar, mustard, clove, cinnamon):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, pepper, sugar, mustard, clove, cinnamon. 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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