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Mixed Pickles

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, onions, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, beans, and horseradish in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 584 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Mixed Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine cucumbers, onions, cauliflower, sliced cabbage, green tomatoes, parboiled carrots, peppers, beans, and horseradish in a bowl.

  2. Soak all ingredients except horseradish in saltwater for 48 hours.

  3. Drain thoroughly.

Pickle

  1. In a pot, heat 2 gallons of vinegar and stir in turmeric, mustard, and curry.

  2. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the vegetables.

  3. Cover tightly and store in a cool place.

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. Cucumber + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  3. Cauliflower + cabbagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together305 recipes

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

  4. Cauliflower + beanstop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together290 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 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

Vinegar
Provides the acid that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
Cucumbers
Provide the crisp, firm bite that the pickling liquid is meant to keep.
Mustard
Adds pungent, sharp flavor that complements the vinegar.
Turmeric powder
Gives the pickles their characteristic yellow color and a mild, earthy flavor.

The step that matters

Soaking in saltwater for 48 hours. Salt draws water out of the vegetables through osmosis, firming their texture and reducing moisture so they stay crisp rather than soft in the vinegar.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, carrot, pepper, beans):

  1. Broccolifits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, carrot, pepper, beans. 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

English 3 See all 133 →

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