Name: Cold Tomato Pickle
Ingredients: 1 peck ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped; ¼ cup coarse sea salt; 1 cup chopped onion; 2 bunches celery, chopped fine; 2 roots grated horseradish; 2 red peppers, chopped; ¾ cup white mustard seed; 2 tablespoons black pepper; ¾ teaspoon ground cloves; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 teacup sugar; 1 quart vinegar

Why it works: Horseradish and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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.

Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,832 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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; salting and draining removes water so the relish stays thick.
Coarse sea salt: Draws water out of the chopped tomatoes during the overnight drain, concentrating their flavour.
Vinegar: Acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp, tangy character.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and horseradish with sweetness.
White mustard seed: Adds a pungent, slightly bitter bite that stands up to the sweet and sour flavours.
Horseradish: Contributes a sharp, pungent heat that mellows as the pickle sits.

The step that matters

Drain the salted tomatoes overnight. Salt pulls water out of the tomatoes. If they are not drained well, the excess liquid dilutes the vinegar and sugar, leaving the pickle thin and less well preserved.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, horseradish, pepper, mustard, clove, cinnamon):

Lettucefits better
Broccolifits better
Turnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, horseradish, pepper, mustard, clove, cinnamon. 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.

Cold Tomato Pickle