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Chopped Tomato Pickle

A pickled tomato relish made with green tomatoes, salt, vinegar, cloves, celery seed, and onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chopped Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Salt and drain

  1. In a stone jar, layer the chopped tomatoes and salt alternately and let them stand overnight.

  2. Drain off the accumulated water.

Pickle and cool

  1. Cover the tomatoes with vinegar.

  2. Add the whole cloves, celery seed, and chopped onions.

  3. Heat the mixture on the stove until it just scalds, but do not boil.

  4. Let it cool before using.

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. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  2. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  5. Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Form the bulk of the pickle and supply its firm, tart pieces.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes, firming their texture and concentrating flavor.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that gives the pickle its tang.
Whole cloves
Contribute a warm, pungent aroma to the pickling liquid.
Celery seed
Adds an earthy, savory aroma that rounds out the spices.
Onions
Add savory aroma and body to the mixture as it steeps.

The step that matters

Heat only until it just scalds. Boiling softens the chopped tomatoes and drives off the vinegar's sharpest aroma. Gentle heat keeps the pieces firmer and the flavor brighter.

Swap the clove

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

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

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