Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pickles
Soak the pickles in salt brine for 2 days.
Remove the pickles and place them in cold water with a small piece of alum, scalding them without boiling.
Skim the pickles out, wipe them dry, and place them in jars or bottles.
Pickle and rest
Boil the white wine vinegar, spices, and sugar together.
Pour the mixture over the pickles, adding more cold vinegar if necessary to cover them.
Let the pickles stand for a month before consuming.
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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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,776 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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White wine + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pickles
- The main food being preserved and flavoured by the brine and vinegar.
- White wine vinegar
- Provides acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavour.
- Granulated sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
- Salt brine
- Draws water out of the pickles and seasons them during the soak.
The step that matters
Scalding without boiling. Water held just below boiling firms the cucumber flesh and helps it stay crisp. Boiling softens the pickles and can make them mushy.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, vinegar, pepper, sugar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Cucumberfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, pepper, sugar. 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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