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Chopped Pickles

A pickled mixture of green tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and red peppers in a vinegar and salt brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,279 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chopped Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the green tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and red peppers.

  2. Mix with salt and let stand overnight.

  3. In the morning, drain off all liquid.

Cook and seal

  1. Boil 2 quarts of water and 1 quart of vinegar together for 15 minutes, then drain again.

  2. Return the mixture to the kettle and add 2 quarts of vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, and turmeric powder.

  3. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning.

  4. Seal in jars or crocks.

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 + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Cucumber + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,102 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 absorb the vinegar brine to become tender and tangy.
Coarse sea salt
Draws liquid out of the vegetables, firming them and helping preserve the pickle.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavor.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Onions
Add sharp, savory flavor and body to the pickled mixture.
Turmeric powder
Gives the pickle its yellow color and a mild earthy aroma.

The step that matters

Boil for 15 minutes, stirring often. The sugar and vinegar mixture can scorch on the bottom of the kettle, which gives a burnt taste. Frequent stirring keeps the vegetables from sticking and distributes heat evenly.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cucumber, pepper, vinegar, sugar, mustard, turmeric. 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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