Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Kipe Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pickling liquid
Tie up the spices for pickling.
Scald the spices in enough vinegar to cover the tomatoes.
Add 1 pound of sugar for every quart of vinegar.
Prepare and pack the tomatoes
Pare the ripe tomatoes, selecting the hardest ones.
Place the tomatoes carefully into a jar.
Pour the boiling hot vinegar and spices over the tomatoes.
Screw the cover on tightly and store in a cool place.
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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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,063 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ripe tomatoes
- Firm, ripe fruit that is pickled whole so it keeps its shape in the brine.
- Vinegar
- Acidity that preserves the tomatoes and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
- Spices
- Aromatic flavor that infuses the hot vinegar and perfumes the tomatoes.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling hot vinegar over the tomatoes. Hot liquid warms the jar and the tomatoes and helps drive out air before sealing. The acid and sugar in the brine then help keep the pickle stable in storage.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar):
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against 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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