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Cauliflowers or Broccoli

A pickled cauliflower or broccoli seasoned with curry powder and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 888 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflowers or Broccoli

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Choose a firm, ripe cauliflower or broccoli.

  2. Cut away the leaves and stalks.

Blanch and dry

  1. In a stew-pan, combine 1 quart of water with ¼ pound of coarse sea salt.

  2. Bring to a boil.

  3. Add the cauliflower or broccoli and let it heat gradually.

  4. Once boiling, remove it with a slotted spoon.

  5. Spread the vegetable on a cloth to dry for at least 24 hours.

Pickle and jar

  1. Once dry, place the pieces into jars.

  2. Cover with the prepared pickle or a mixture of 3 ounces of curry powder infused in 1 quart of vinegar.

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. Cauliflower + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together888 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

Cauliflower or broccoli
Forms the crisp, firm vegetable base that the pickle surrounds.
Curry powder
Provides the spiced flavor that infuses into the vinegar.
Vinegar
Acidifies the liquid, giving the pickle its sharp, preserving tang.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the brine and helps draw moisture out of the vegetable.

The step that matters

Drying the cauliflower for at least 24 hours. Surface moisture dilutes the vinegar and weakens the pickle, so the pieces must be thoroughly dry before jarring. Letting them heat gradually in the brine, rather than boiling hard, helps keep the florets firm.

“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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