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Mixed Pickles

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, beans, and tomatoes with mustard seeds and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 584 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Mixed Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine cucumbers, green peppers, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, string beans, and green tomatoes in a large bowl.

  2. Soak the mixture in a strong brine for 24 hours.

  3. Drain the vegetables for 3 hours.

Season and cook

  1. Add black and white mustard seeds and black ground pepper to the drained vegetables.

  2. Boil the mixture in enough vinegar to cover, adding a little alum.

  3. Drain again and let cool.

Finish

  1. Mix in the ground mustard and cover the mixture with cider vinegar.

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. Cucumber + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  3. Cauliflower + cabbagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together305 recipes

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

  4. Cauliflower + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Cauliflower + beanstop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together290 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Provides firm, crisp pieces that hold their shape through the long soak and boil.
Cabbage
Adds crunchy texture and bulk that stays firm after pickling.
Onions
Contribute savoury flavour and aroma that mellow during the boil.
Black and white mustard seeds
Add sharp, pungent flavour that carries through the vinegar.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the vegetables.
Green tomatoes
Add tartness and body that firm up when briefly boiled.

The step that matters

Boil only until tender-crisp. Over-boiling breaks down the vegetables' cell walls, so the pickle turns soft and mushy. Alum, added with the boil, helps firm the vegetable tissue and keep it crisp.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, pepper, cauliflower, cabbage, beans, tomato, mustard):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Broccolifits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, pepper, cauliflower, cabbage, beans, tomato, 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 mixed pickles recipes

English 3 See all 133 →

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