Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Tomato Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare and simmer
Wash and chop the tomatoes.
In a large pot, combine the tomatoes and onion, and bring to a boil.
Add the salt and let it boil down until reduced by about a quart.
Add the spices and cook
Stir in the vinegar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, mustard, and cayenne pepper.
Boil for an additional 30 minutes.
Finish
Skim the onion out before serving.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 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
- Tomatoes
- Form the bulk of the pickle and release juice that cooks down into the sauce.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that gives the pickled flavour and helps preserve the tomatoes.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the acidity with sweetness and deepens the sauce's colour.
- Cinnamon
- Contributes warm, sweet aroma to the spiced sauce.
- Cloves
- Adds strong, warm aroma that carries through the long simmer.
- Mustard
- Adds pungent, slightly sharp flavour that rounds out the spices.
The step that matters
Boiling the tomatoes down. Reducing the mixture by about a quart concentrates the flavour and thickens the liquid. Stopping early leaves a thin, watery pickle, while reducing too far makes it overly thick and sweet-tasting.
Swap the mustard
The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, pepper, celery):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Cucumberfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, 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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