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Green Tomato Pickle

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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 Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Skin the green onions and sprinkle them in layers with coarse sea salt. Let them stand for 24 hours.

  2. Drain the onions by placing them in a sieve and pouring fresh water over them.

  3. Scald the onions in a strong ginger tea made by boiling 1 lb. of bruised ginger root in 1 qt. of water.

  4. In a kettle, layer the sliced onions and tomatoes with the spices and brown sugar.

  5. Pour enough white vinegar over the layers to cover them well.

  6. Cook the pickle until the tomatoes look clear and are tender, about 1 hour.

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. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, pepper, clove, mustard, allspice, celery, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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