Why it works: Cauliflower and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 687 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Cauliplowers or Broccoli
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Choose a firm, ripe cauliflower or broccoli and cut away the leaves and stalks.
Fill a stew pan half full of water and add the salt.
Bring the water to a boil and add the cauliflower or broccoli.
Once boiling, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a cloth to dry for at least 24 hours.
Pack and pickle
When completely dry, pack the pieces into jars and cover with mustard powder or your preferred pickling solution.
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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Cauliflower + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together687 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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 main body of the pickle, with a firm, crisp texture when kept dry.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the brine and draws moisture out of the vegetable during preparation.
- Mustard powder
- Adds sharp, pungent flavour to the pickling solution.
The step that matters
Drying the blanched pieces completely. Any surface water left on the florets dilutes the pickling solution and can encourage spoilage, so the pieces must be fully dry before packing into jars.
“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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