Why it works: Allspice and clove 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 ↓
Tomato Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Layer the sliced tomatoes in a bowl, salting each layer. Let the tomatoes stand overnight.
Drain the tomatoes well in the morning.
Pack the vessel
Layer the tomatoes and a few slices of onion in a vessel until all are used. Spread the finely chopped green peppers over the top.
Place black pepper, allspice, cloves, and mustard in a bag. Boil the spice bag in vinegar until the strength is extracted. Put the spice bag on top of the pickles.
Pour boiling vinegar over the pickles to cover them. Cover the vessel tightly. Let the pickles stand for three weeks without opening.
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.
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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 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
- Tomatoes
- Form the bulk of the pickle, releasing water that salting and draining remove.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the tomatoes, firming them and concentrating flavor.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and savory body that softens as the pickle matures.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that preserves the pickle and sharpens its flavor.
- Mustard
- Adds pungency and a sharp, tangy aroma to the spiced vinegar.
The step that matters
Draining the salted tomatoes well. Salt draws out water overnight; if the tomatoes stay wet, the pickle becomes diluted and less crisp, and the vinegar cover loses strength.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, allspice, clove, mustard, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, allspice, clove, mustard, 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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