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Sweet Cucumber Pickles

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sweet Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Leave part of the stems on the cucumbers and wash them.

  2. Place cucumbers in a tub or stone jar.

  3. Make a brine with the salt and 6 quarts of water, then pour it over the cucumbers while boiling hot.

  4. On the second and third days, pour off the brine, boil and skim it, then pour it back over the cucumbers while boiling hot.

  5. On the fourth day, remove the pickles from the brine.

  6. Dissolve the alum in 6 quarts of boiling water and pour it over the pickles.

  7. Let the pickles stand until the next day, then pour off the liquid.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, mustard, allspice, nutmeg):

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, mustard, allspice, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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