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Green Tomato Soy

Pickled green tomatoes with onions, peppers, vinegar, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,928 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Green Tomato Soy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pickles

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Stew over low heat for about 5 hours, stirring often to prevent burning.

  3. Once tender, transfer to small glass jars. Ensure the vinegar covers the pickles well.

Rest

  1. Allow to stand for some time before using.

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. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  4. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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
Provide the main bulk and firm texture that softens during slow stewing.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory body as they soften into the stew.
Green peppers
Contribute vegetable flavor and some texture to the finished pickles.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their tang.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar and deepens the flavor.

The step that matters

Stewing over low heat. Stirring often and keeping the heat low prevents the sugar and vegetables from scorching on the pot bottom during the long cook, which would give a burnt taste.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, cider, vinegar, sugar, mustard, allspice):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Horseradishbetter flavor fit
  3. Cucumberbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, cider, vinegar, sugar, mustard, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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