Why it works: Mustard and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Tomato Mangoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Select smooth, soft green tomatoes.
Cut a piece from the stem end to remove the seeds.
Stand the tomatoes upright in a tub.
Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt in each tomato.
Cover the tomatoes with cold water.
Soak the tomatoes for 24 hours.
Drain the tomatoes by turning them upside down.
Stuff and tie
Shred the cabbage using a slaw cutter.
Mix the shredded cabbage with ground cloves, ground allspice, whole mustard, and salt.
Stuff the mixture into the tomatoes.
Replace the tops of the tomatoes.
Tie the tomatoes tightly with soft twine.
Pickle
Stand the tomatoes upright in a stone jar.
Cover the tomatoes with cold vinegar.
Let the tomatoes sit for one week.
If the vinegar molds, drain it off.
Cover with fresh cold vinegar.
Add 2 tablespoons of chopped horseradish to prevent molding.
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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Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cabbage + horseradishtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together481 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 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
- Serve as the firm, tart vessel that holds the stuffing and absorbs the pickling vinegar.
- Cabbage
- Fills the tomatoes as crisp shredded bulk that stays crunchy through the pickling.
- Whole mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the acidity of the vinegar.
- Ground cloves
- Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour to the stuffing.
- Ground allspice
- Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour to the stuffing.
- Cold vinegar
- Acidifies the tomatoes, preserving them and giving the pickle its tang.
The step that matters
Draining and recovering the vinegar during the week. Mold can form on the surface of the vinegar during the long sit. Draining off moldy vinegar and covering with fresh cold vinegar keeps the acidic brine strong enough to preserve the tomatoes safely.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, clove, allspice, mustard, vinegar, horseradish):
- Radishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Broccolifits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, clove, allspice, mustard, vinegar, horseradish. 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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