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Tomato Pickle

A preserved tomato and onion relish seasoned with spices, vinegar, and mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Tomato Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Sprinkle sliced tomatoes and onions with salt and let them stand overnight.

  2. Drain the tomatoes and onions.

Cook

  1. In a kettle, layer the spices and the drained tomatoes and onions alternately.

  2. Cover the mixture with vinegar and add the wet mustard.

  3. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes.

  4. If the pickles become too sharp, add sugar to taste.

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. Mustard + allspicetop 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

Green tomatoes
Make up the bulk of the pickle and supply the main body of the texture.
Onions
Add savory bulk and sweetness that softens during long cooking.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes and onions, firming them before pickling.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickle.
Mustard
Adds pungency and a sharp, tangy flavor to the pickle.

The step that matters

Boiling the pickle. Boiling for 10 to 15 minutes lets the vinegar and spices penetrate the vegetables and mellow the sharpness. Too short a boil leaves the pickle harsh and underflavored.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, clove, mustard, allspice, vinegar, sugar. 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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