Skip to main content
Main

Celery, or French Pickle

A pickled mixture of cabbage, celery, sweet peppers, mustard seed, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Celery, or French Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix chopped sweet peppers with 1 cup of salt and let stand for 2 hours.

  2. Wash the peppers thoroughly until the water is clear to prevent coloring the cabbage and celery.

Combine and season

  1. Combine the cabbage, celery, and peppers in a large bowl.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 pint of white mustard seed, 4 pints of sugar, and hot peppers to taste.

Pack and seal

  1. Before sealing, add 1 gallon of cold cider vinegar.

  2. Pack the mixture into jars for immediate use or sealed cans for storage.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 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 + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Provides the bulk and crisp texture of the pickle.
Celery
Adds crunch and a fresh, mildly savory flavor.
Sweet peppers
Add crisp texture and mild sweetness to the mix.
White mustard seed
Contributes a sharp, pungent flavor when left whole.
Sugar
Sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the pickle.

The step that matters

Wash the salted peppers thoroughly. Salted peppers release colored liquid. Rinsing until the water runs clear keeps that pigment from staining the pale cabbage and celery, and keeps the vegetables looking fresh.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Allspicefits about as well
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, pepper, mustard, sugar, 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.

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesRed CabbageRed Cabbage65 recipesStewed CabbageStewed Cabbage58 recipesBaked CabbageBaked Cabbage51 recipes