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Spanish Pickle

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, onion, cabbage, green tomatoes, and spices in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Spanish Pickle

Why it works: Mustard and celery 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 ↓

Spanish Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Chop or grind the cucumbers, onion, cabbage, and green tomatoes.

  2. Add the coarse sea salt and let the mixture stand overnight.

  3. The next morning, squeeze out the brine.

Cook and bottle

  1. Add the white mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric, Coleman's mustard, and brown sugar.

  2. Cover with apple vinegar and cook for 30 minutes.

  3. Bottle the mixture.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

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

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

  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

Cucumber pickles
Provide the main body and crisp bite of the relish.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a crunchy texture to the mixture.
Green tomatoes
Add tartness and moisture to the chopped mixture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar.
Apple vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the mixture and gives it its tang.
White mustard seed
Contributes pungent flavor and a sharp bite when cooked.

The step that matters

Squeezing out the brine. Salting draws a lot of water out of the vegetables. Squeezing the brine away before cooking keeps the finished pickle from becoming watery and diluting the vinegar, so it stays thick and well seasoned.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, onion, cabbage, mustard, celery, turmeric, sugar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, onion, cabbage, mustard, celery, turmeric, sugar. 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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