Skip to main content
Main

Mixed Pickles

A pickled mixture of ginger, garlic, peppercorns, capsicum, and curry powder in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Ginger and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,402 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Mixed Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the ginger, garlic, white pepper, long pepper, capsicum, and curry powder in a large bowl, then pour the vinegar over the mixture and stir well.

  2. Transfer to a clean jar and seal tightly.

  3. Let the pickles sit for at least 2 weeks before using.

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. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Garlic + capsicumtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  3. Ginger + capsicumtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,890 recipes

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

  4. Capsicum + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,160 recipes

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

  5. Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Ginger
Adds pungent, aromatic flavour that infuses into the vinegar over time.
Garlic
Contributes sharp, aromatic flavour that mellows during the long resting period.
Vinegar
Acts as the preserving liquid and provides the sharp acidity of the pickle.
Curry powder
Supplies the spiced flavour that steeps into the vinegar as the pickles rest.

The step that matters

Let the pickles sit for at least 2 weeks before using. Flavours from the spices, ginger and garlic need time to steep into the vinegar; using them early gives harsh, unbalanced taste.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, capsicum, vinegar):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Corianderfits better
  3. Basilfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, capsicum, 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.

More mixed pickles recipes

English 3 See all 133 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes