Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
To Pickle Peppers
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the ends off the peppers and remove the seeds.
Soak the peppers in water with a little coarse sea salt for 6 to 8 days, changing the water daily.
Chop the cabbage and onions together, then season with mustard, cloves, and allspice to taste.
Fill the peppers with the cabbage and onion mixture, then replace the ends you cut off.
Boil cider vinegar with a small piece of alum, then pour it over the filled peppers while hot.
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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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cabbage, mustard, clove, allspice, cider, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Radishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cabbage, mustard, clove, allspice, cider, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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