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Mustard Pickles

A pickled vegetable mix flavored with mustard and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Mustard Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Slice the vegetables and sprinkle with salt in layers, then let them stand overnight and drain in the morning.

  2. Cook the cauliflowers for 1 hour in a mixture of half vinegar and half water.

  3. Cook the cucumbers for 30-45 minutes and the tomatoes for 20 minutes.

Spice and layer

  1. Steep the spices (except whole pepper, ground mustard, and turmeric) in vinegar, then strain into the vinegar for the pickles.

  2. In a tin wash-boiler, layer the vegetables, adding turmeric, whole peppers, and onions with their vinegar.

  3. Pour over the spiced vinegar.

  4. Mix ground mustard in cold vinegar and pour it over the pickles.

Scald and store

  1. Cover tightly and heat to scald.

  2. Stir from the bottom to prevent burning.

  3. Once thoroughly scalded, remove and store for winter use.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cucumber + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  4. Cauliflower + beanstop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together290 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Tomato + cucumbertop 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

Green tomatoes
Adds bulk and a firm, tart body that holds shape in the brine.
Cauliflowers
Provides firm, crisp pieces that hold their texture through long cooking.
Cucumbers
Contributes crunch and a mild, fresh body to the pickles.
Vinegar
Supplies the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavor.
White mustard seed
Adds pungent, sharp flavor that mellows as the pickles stand.
Sugar
Balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Stir from the bottom while scalding. The dense vegetables and sugar settle on the bottom of the wash-boiler, where they scorch easily. Stirring from the bottom keeps solids moving and prevents burning, which would taint the whole batch.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, beans, pepper, clove, cinnamon):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, beans, pepper, clove, cinnamon. 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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