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Tomato Pickles

A pickled tomato and onion relish made with salt, vinegar, spices, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Tomato Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the tomatoes and onions, then sprinkle the salt over them and let stand overnight.

Cook

  1. Drain the mixture and place it in a large pot with the water and vinegar.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it cook for 15 minutes.

  3. Drain again, cover with vinegar, and add the remaining ingredients.

  4. Boil for an additional 15 minutes.

  5. If desired, place the dark spices in a bag.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 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
Form the bulk of the pickle and give it its tart, firm body.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aroma that balance the sharp vinegar.
Salt
Draws water out of the sliced vegetables so they stay firmer in the brine.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickle.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth that offsets the acidity of the vinegar.
Whole mustard
Contributes pungent flavor and a sharp, tangy note to the brine.

The step that matters

Drain the salted tomatoes and onions before cooking. Salt draws out liquid overnight, and draining it fully before adding fresh water and vinegar keeps the pickle from becoming diluted and soft. Skipping the drain would change the brine's strength and texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, vinegar, sugar, mustard, cinnamon, allspice, clove):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, sugar, mustard, cinnamon, allspice, clove. 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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