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Pickle Hash

A pickled vegetable mixture of cabbage, onions, celery, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, horseradish, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 640 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pickle Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Chop the cabbage, onions, celery, cucumbers, horseradish, peppers, and tomatoes.

  2. Mix the chopped vegetables together.

  3. Layer the mixture 2 inches deep in a crock, sprinkling each layer with 1 tablespoon of salt.

  4. Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.

  5. Drain and press out all liquid.

  6. Cover the vegetables with boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes.

  7. Press out all moisture.

Pickle and store

  1. Bring the vinegar to a boil.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of powdered alum, dissolving it.

  3. Layer the vegetables 2 inches deep in a jar, sprinkling with mustard seed, black pepper, and horseradish between layers.

  4. Pour the boiling vinegar over the vegetables, ensuring they are well covered.

  5. Cover tightly and let it stand for a few days.

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. Cucumber + horseradishtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together640 recipes

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

  2. Cabbage + horseradishtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together481 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  4. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the hash and gives it a firm, crisp texture.
Salt
Draws water out of the vegetables, softening them and concentrating flavor.
Cucumbers
Add moisture and a crisp, fresh texture to the pickled mixture.
Green tomatoes
Contribute acidity and firmness that hold their shape during pickling.
Powdered alum
Helps the vegetables stay firm and crisp during pickling.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharply flavors the pickle.

The step that matters

Pressing out the liquid after salting. Salt draws out water over 24 hours, and removing it thoroughly keeps the hash crisp rather than watery. Leftover moisture dilutes the vinegar brine and weakens preservation.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Cauliflowerfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, celery, cucumber, horseradish, pepper, tomato, cider. 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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