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Mixed Pickles

A jar of assorted pickled vegetables in a vinegar and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 584 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Mixed Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Salt the vegetables

  1. In a jar, layer the green tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and cauliflower, sprinkling salt between layers. Let sit overnight.

  2. Drain the vegetables through a colander.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In a pot, combine vinegar, brown sugar, green peppers, celery seed, and allspice. Heat until scalding.

Pack and seal

  1. Add the pickles to a jar and stir in the white mustard seed and grated horseradish.

  2. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the pickles.

  3. Cover with horseradish leaves and a plate, bottom side up. Tie up the jar when cool.

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

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

  2. Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Cauliflower + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together488 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Provide the bulk of the pickle and firm texture when salted.
Cucumbers
Add crisp texture and body to the pickle mix.
Cauliflower
Adds firm, crunchy pieces that hold their shape in the brine.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its tang.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharp vinegar with sweetness and depth.
White mustard seed
Contributes a mild pungent flavour and crunch to the jar.

The step that matters

Draining after the overnight salting. Salt draws water out of the vegetables by osmosis. Draining well removes the released liquid and excess salt, so the pickle stays crisp and is not overly salty or diluted in the hot vinegar.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, vinegar, sugar, pepper, celery):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, vinegar, sugar, pepper, celery. 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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