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Delicious Mixed Pickle

A pickled mixture of tomatoes, onions, cabbage, celery, cucumbers, peppers, salt, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and cucumber are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Delicious Mixed Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the green tomatoes, onions, red tomatoes, cabbage, celery, cucumbers, and red sweet peppers together.

  2. Add ½ cup coarse sea salt and let the mixture stand overnight.

Cook and seal

  1. The next day, add 2 pints of vinegar, 2 pounds of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of mustard, and 1 teaspoon of black pepper.

  2. Cook the mixture until done, then seal in jars.

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. Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  5. Cabbage + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 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
Provide bulk and a tart, fresh body that softens during cooking.
Cabbage
Adds crisp texture that holds up through the long cooking.
Cucumbers
Contribute crunch and fresh, mild flavor to the pickle.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the mixture and sharpens its flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and aroma as they cook down.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture until done, then seal in jars. Vinegar and sugar must be fully cooked into the vegetables so the acidity and sweetness are even. Sealing before the mixture is thoroughly cooked risks spoilage, since the acid needs time to act throughout the pickle.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cabbage, celery, cucumber, pepper, vinegar, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

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

More mixed pickles recipes

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