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Pickled Tomatoes

Pickled tomatoes preserved in a salt, vinegar, and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pickled Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prick the tomatoes with a large needle and soak them in a strong saltwater solution for 8 days.

  2. Remove the tomatoes from the brine and soak them in a mixture of vinegar and water for 24 hours.

  3. Scald the onions in vinegar and let them cool.

Pickle

  1. Drain the tomatoes and combine them with the cold onions, vinegar, mustard seed, and cloves.

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

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

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,482 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

Ripe tomatoes
Form the main body of the pickle, absorbing brine and vinegar to become firm and tangy.
Strong salt
Draws moisture out of the tomatoes and seasons them during the long brine soak.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the tomatoes and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
Small onions
Contribute sharp, savory flavor and a crisp texture to the pickle.
Mustard seed
Adds pungent, aromatic flavor that complements the vinegar and tomatoes.
Cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice that deepens the flavor of the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Soak the tomatoes in the strong saltwater brine. Salt draws water out of the tomatoes through osmosis and firms their flesh. A weak brine or short soak can leave the pickle soft or spoil it before the vinegar takes effect.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

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

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