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Spanish Pickle

A pickled vegetable mixture of cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, celery, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Spanish Pickle

Why it works: Tomato and cucumber are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Spanish Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Combine cabbage, green tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, onions, and celery in a bowl.

  2. Let the mixture stand in brine overnight.

  3. Wash the vegetables in cold water and drain.

Cook the pickle

  1. In a large pot, combine vinegar, brown sugar, and all spices; bring to a boil.

  2. Add the chopped vegetables and small cucumber pickles; cook for 30 minutes.

  3. Mix turmeric, ground mustard, and flour into a paste; add to the pot and cook for 5 more minutes.

  4. Bottle the pickle and enjoy when desired.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  5. Cabbage + cucumbertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the pickle and keeps a firm, crisp texture after cooking.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavor.
Brown sugar
Balances the vinegar's sharpness with sweetness and adds depth of flavor.
Green tomatoes
Adds bulk and tartness, and firms up during cooking.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth, spoonable consistency.
Ground mustard
Adds pungent flavor and helps thicken the pickle's sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the turmeric, ground mustard and flour paste. Mixing these into a smooth paste before adding them keeps the flour from clumping into lumps in the hot liquid. Stirring well while the pot cooks also keeps the thickened sauce even and prevents scorching on the bottom.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, tomato, cucumber, pepper, celery, cider, vinegar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, tomato, cucumber, pepper, celery, cider, 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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