Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓
Pickle Lily
Ingredients
Directions
Combine sliced tomatoes and salt in a large bowl, cover with water, and let stand for 24 hours.
Rinse the tomatoes with water and squeeze out excess liquid.
Chop the green peppers, onions, and cabbage, then mix with the tomatoes.
Cover the mixture with vinegar and heat until scalding.
Remove from heat, drain off the vinegar, and stir in molasses, ground cloves, cinnamon, and horseradish to taste.
Transfer to jars, cover with fresh vinegar, and sprinkle brown sugar on top.
Seal the jars; this will keep for months.
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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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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 + cabbagetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + cabbagetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,001 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
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, cabbage, vinegar, molasses, clove, cinnamon):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, cabbage, vinegar, molasses, clove, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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