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Pickled Green Peppers

A pickled green bell pepper dish preserved in a salt brine and spiced vinegar, stuffed with cabbage and mustard seed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,645 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pickled Green Peppers

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peppers

  1. Cut a slit in the sides of the peppers to remove the seeds, keeping them whole.

  2. Make a strong salt brine and pour it over the peppers.

  3. Let them stand for 24 hours.

  4. Remove the peppers from the brine.

  5. Soak them in water for 16 hours.

  6. Drain the water.

Pickle and stuff

  1. Scald the vinegar with a small piece of alum.

  2. Pour the scalded vinegar over the peppers.

  3. Let them stand for 3 days.

  4. Prepare a stuffing.

  5. Mix the chopped cabbage with a little salt and the mustard seed.

  6. Stuff the peppers tightly with the mixture.

  7. Stitch them closed with a darning needle and coarse thread.

Jar and seal

  1. Place the stuffed peppers in a stone jar.

  2. Pour the hot spiced vinegar over them.

  3. Cover tightly.

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. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + cabbagetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green bell peppers
Their whole shells hold the stuffing and stay firm through the long brining and soaking.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the peppers and seasons them during the brine stage.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the peppers and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
White cabbage
Forms the crunchy, savoury filling that fills the peppers.
White mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Stuff the peppers tightly. Packing the filling firmly leaves little air inside, so the peppers keep their shape and the pickling liquid can penetrate evenly.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Radishfits about as well
  3. Lettucefits about as well
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, mustard. 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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