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Mustard Pickle

A pickled vegetable dish flavored with mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, marjoram, thyme, lemon zest, and saffron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Mustard Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pickles

  1. Prepare a jar of mixed pickles.

  2. Let the jar stand for 6 weeks.

  3. Drain the pickles through a sieve or colander.

Make the mustard sauce

  1. In a basin, mix the mustard, brown sugar, and a little cold vinegar.

  2. In a clean saucepan, combine the drained vinegar with 1 pint more, marjoram, thyme, and lemon zest. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Stir in the mustard mixture and saffron until thick.

  4. Let the mixture cool.

Pack and store

  1. Return the pickles to the jar and pour the mixture over them.

  2. Leave the jar uncovered until the next day.

  3. Seal the jar and store for 6 weeks.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + saffrontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together538 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Thyme + saffrontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together104 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mixed pickles
Form the bulk of the relish, providing the main vegetable pieces and tangy base.
Best mustard
Supplies sharp, pungent flavour that defines the pickle's character.
Coarse brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the pickles and gives the sauce its tang.
Saffron
Contributes a yellow colour and distinctive aroma to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stir in the mustard mixture and saffron until thick. Mustard flour and sugar thicken as the sauce heats, but overheating or boiling too long can scorch the sugar and make the sauce bitter. Keep the heat gentle once the mixture has been stirred in.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, marjoram, lemon, thyme, saffron):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Mustardthe original
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, marjoram, lemon, thyme, saffron. 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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