Why it works: Walnut and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,769 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Pickled Butternuts or Walnuts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the walnuts
Gather the walnuts when they are green enough for a pin to pass through them.
Make a brine with 1½ pints of coarse sea salt and 1 gallon of water.
Add the walnuts to the brine and let them soak for a week.
Freshen the walnuts in tepid water for a few hours, or longer if needed.
Use a large needle to pierce each walnut.
Pickle
Place the walnuts in a crock and cover them with boiling vinegar, adding spices to your taste.
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.
-
Walnut + vinegartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,769 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Walnuts
- Green walnuts are the main ingredient, becoming dark and softened as they pickle.
- Boiling vinegar
- Acidity preserves the walnuts and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Salt draws out bitterness and moisture from the walnuts during the brine soak.
The step that matters
Freshening the walnuts. Soaking in brine for a week draws out bitterness, but the walnuts must then be freshened in tepid water to remove excess salt before pickling. Skipping or shortening this leaves the pickle too salty and harsh.
“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.
You might also like
Fritters56 recipes
Crisp Crackers7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.