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Recipe for Mango Pickles

A preserved mango dish flavored with spices, vinegar, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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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 ↓

Recipe for Mango Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mangoes

  1. Soak mangoes in brine for 3-4 weeks, then soak in cold water for 2 days, changing water frequently.

  2. Boil mangoes in vinegar for 45 minutes, adding a small lump of alum.

  3. Let mangoes sit in the same vinegar for 1 week.

Fill and pack

  1. Remove the seed from the mangoes and fill the cavity with spices.

  2. Braise all spices and mix with olive oil.

  3. Combine chopped mangoes and onions with the spices.

  4. Tie up the mixture and pour over cider vinegar.

Store and sweeten

  1. Store in a light, dry place, avoiding darkness and dampness.

  2. After 1 month, add 3 lbs of brown sugar to the vinegar, adjusting to taste.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mango + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together280 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Allspice + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,422 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mangoes
Form the main body of the pickle and soften through brining and boiling in vinegar.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar and the pungent spices.
Cider vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the pickle and sharpens its flavour.
Black mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour to the spice mixture.
Garlic
Contributes pungency and aroma to the pickle.
Ginger
Adds warm, aromatic heat to the spice blend.

The step that matters

Boil mangoes in vinegar with alum. Boiling in vinegar softens the fruit so it can absorb the spices, while alum helps the mangoes keep their firmness rather than turning mushy. Overboiling breaks the fruit down.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mango, ginger, sherry, wine, clove, allspice, celery):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mango, ginger, sherry, wine, clove, allspice, celery. 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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