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Indian Pickle

A preserved mixture of ginger, garlic, long pepper, mustard seed, turmeric, cayenne pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Indian Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Soak ginger in water overnight, then cut into thin slices and drain in a sieve.

  2. Cut long pepper into thin slices like ginger.

  3. Soak garlic in strong saltwater for 3–4 days, then drain well and mash or slice thinly.

Prepare the spice mix

  1. In a mortar, combine mustard seed, turmeric, and cayenne pepper, and pound well.

Make the pickle

  1. Put all prepared ingredients into a large stone jar with vinegar.

  2. Stir mixture frequently for two weeks, then cover tightly.

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. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Garlic + turmerictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,363 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Mustard seed
Adds pungent flavour and sharpness that mellows as the pickle sits.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma and flavour that infuses into the vinegar.
Vinegar
Acts as the preserving liquid and provides the sour, acidic base of the pickle.
Ginger
Adds aromatic, warming flavour and a fresh bite to the pickle.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its characteristic yellow colour and earthy flavour.

The step that matters

Pounding the spices in the mortar. Spices release their aroma and flavour when broken down into fine particles, so pounding them well helps them infuse evenly into the vinegar rather than leaving gritty, uneven pieces.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, garlic, mustard, turmeric, vinegar):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, garlic, mustard, turmeric, 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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