Why it works: Garlic and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,053 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
Indian Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Drain the ginger on a sieve and cut the pepper in the same manner.
Soak the garlic in strong saltwater for 3 to 4 days, then drain it well.
Mash the garlic or slice it thinly.
In a mortar, pound the mustard seed, prepared mustard, and cayenne pepper together.
Make the pickle
Combine all prepared ingredients in a large stone jar with the vinegar.
Stir the mixture frequently for two weeks and cover it tightly.
Keep
This pickle can be replenished with vinegar and will keep for about ten years.
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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Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,053 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,402 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,090 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,800 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
- Garlic
- Soaking in brine and then mashing or slicing gives it a mellow, pungent flavour in the vinegar.
- Mustard seed
- Pounded seeds release sharp, pungent flavour and add texture to the pickle.
- Vinegar
- Acts as the preserving liquid that keeps the pickle stable and sharp in flavour.
- Cayenne pepper
- Provides heat and pungency that carries through the vinegar over weeks of steeping.
- Raw ginger
- Contributes aromatic, peppery flavour that infuses into the vinegar during steeping.
The step that matters
Stirring for two weeks and covering tightly. Regular stirring spreads the ingredients evenly through the vinegar so flavours extract consistently, while a tight cover limits evaporation and contamination during the long steep.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, garlic, mustard, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Dillfits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, garlic, mustard, vinegar. 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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