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Tomato Pickle

A preserved tomato relish made by layering tomatoes, onions, peppers, and spices, then steeping in boiled vinegar for three weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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

  1. Layer sliced tomatoes in a vessel, sprinkling with coarse sea salt, and let them stand overnight.

  2. In the morning, drain the tomatoes well.

Pack the vessel

  1. Layer tomatoes and onion slices in the vessel until all are used.

  2. Spread finely chopped green peppers over the top.

Add spices and vinegar

  1. Place black pepper, allspice, cloves, and mustard in a bag and boil in vinegar until the strength is extracted.

  2. Place the bag on top of the pickles and pour boiling vinegar over to cover them.

  3. Cover the vessel tightly and let it stand for three weeks without opening.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked 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 and release moisture that salt draws out during the overnight rest.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes, firming them and helping preserve the pickle.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory flavor that mellows during the long resting period.
Green peppers
Add crisp texture and a fresh, slightly bitter vegetal flavor.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the pickle and sharpens its flavor.
Mustard
Adds pungent, sharp flavor to the spiced vinegar.

The step that matters

Draining the salted tomatoes well. Salt draws water out of the tomatoes overnight; if they are not drained thoroughly, excess liquid dilutes the vinegar and weakens the pickle's texture and keeping quality.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. 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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