Why it works: Mustard and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Mangoe Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mangoes
Peel and partially divide the mangoes, removing the seed.
Sprinkle mangoes with salt and let them sit in a large vessel for 24 hours.
Make the brine and pack
Boil vinegar and turmeric for 15 minutes on low heat, then remove from heat.
Mix dried chillies, sliced ginger, mustard seed, and garlic with the mangoes, stuffing some inside.
Pour the vinegar and turmeric mixture over the mangoes, adding more vinegar if needed to cover them.
Cure in the sun
Let the mangoes sit in the sun for a few hours daily for 3-4 days.
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.
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Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,776 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Turmeric + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,279 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Turmeric + horseradishtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together437 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Mango + turmerictop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together256 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Unripe green mangoes
- Provide the firm, tart flesh that becomes the pickle's body and texture.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture from the mangoes and inhibits spoilage during the initial resting.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavour.
- Ground turmeric
- Colours the pickle yellow and adds a warm, earthy aroma.
- Mustard seed
- Adds pungent flavour and a sharp bite that mellows during pickling.
- Garlic
- Contributes pungency and aroma that infuse into the mangoes as they pickle.
The step that matters
Covering the mangoes with brine. Any mango left above the liquid can spoil or mould, because exposed surfaces are not protected by acidity and salt. Adding more vinegar until everything is submerged keeps the pickle preserved throughout the sun curing.
Swap the mango
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, turmeric, ginger, mustard, garlic, pepper, horseradish):
- Limefits better
- Lemonfits better
- Avocadofits about as well
- Mangothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, turmeric, ginger, mustard, garlic, pepper, horseradish. 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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