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Pickled Peppers

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pickled Peppers

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cut an opening in the top of the peppers and remove half the seeds.

  2. Soak the peppers in a mixture of salt and water for two weeks, keeping them covered with brine.

  3. Place a board over the peppers to keep them submerged and remove any scum that forms.

  4. If the peppers are not yellow after two weeks, leave them in the brine longer.

  5. Once yellow, wash the peppers and place them in a kettle with cold water, covering them with leaves.

  6. Heat the kettle near the fire without allowing it to simmer.

  7. Once the peppers are softened, drain them and pack them into jars.

  8. Pour cold spiced vinegar over the peppers.

  9. For stuffing, finely chop cabbage and season it with mace, cinnamon, cloves, and mustard seed.

  10. Stuff the peppers with the seasoned cabbage and tie each one with thread to secure the filling.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  5. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, cabbage, cinnamon, clove, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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