Skip to main content
Main

Mustard Pickles

A pickled vegetable mix flavored with mustard, turmeric, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Mustard Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Brine the vegetables

  1. Mix cucumbers, green tomatoes, onions, green beans, green peppers, and celery in a bowl.

  2. Make a brine with water and salt and pour it over the vegetables.

  3. Let the mixture stand for 24 hours.

  4. Lift the vegetables out of the brine in a colander and let them drain.

Make the mustard sauce

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, ground mustard, and turmeric with cold vinegar to make a smooth paste.

  2. In a pot, combine sugar and vinegar.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring constantly to prevent burning.

Combine and cook

  1. Stir in the drained vegetables.

  2. Cook for a few minutes.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  3. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 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

Cucumbers
Provide the crisp, firm body that holds up after brining and cooking.
Green tomatoes
Add acidity and bulk, giving the pickle a tart, fresh flavor.
Flour
Thickens the mustard sauce into a smooth, creamy coating for the vegetables.
Ground mustard
Supplies the sharp, pungent flavor that defines mustard pickles.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its characteristic yellow color and mild, earthy aroma.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with sweetness.

The step that matters

Bring the mustard paste mixture to a boil while stirring constantly. Flour and mustard settle and scorch quickly on the bottom of the pot. Constant stirring keeps the starch dispersed and smooths the sauce, so it thickens evenly without burning.

Swap the green beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, tomato, onion, pepper, celery, flour, mustard):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Green beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, tomato, onion, pepper, celery, flour, 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.

More mustard pickles recipes

Mixed 7 See all 151 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesGreen PeasGreen Peas229 recipesGreen Pea SoupGreen Pea Soup181 recipesCream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipes