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Pickled Tomatoes

A pickled tomato relish made with tomatoes, peppers, onions, mustard seed, brown sugar, molasses, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pickled Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and let them sit overnight.

  2. In the morning, drain off the juice.

Make the pickle

  1. Add the chopped peppers, sliced onions, mustard seed, brown sugar, and molasses to the tomatoes.

  2. Cover the mixture with vinegar.

  3. Simmer or boil slowly for about 1 hour, keeping it covered.

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. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 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

Tomatoes
Form the bulk of the pickle and release juice that is drained after salting.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickle.
Molasses
Adds depth of flavor and dark color along with sweetness.
White mustard seed
Contributes a sharp, pungent flavor to the pickle.
Onions
Add savory body and sweetness as they soften during simmering.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly while covered. Simmering gently for about an hour softens the vegetables and lets flavors meld without the vinegar reducing too fast or scorching. Keeping the lid on holds in moisture and heat.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, onion, mustard, sugar, molasses, vinegar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, mustard, sugar, molasses, vinegar. 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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