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Universal Pickle

A vinegar-based pickle with onions, spices, and optional fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Universal Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pickle

  1. In a large pot, combine the vinegar and coarse sea salt.

  2. Add the spices: mace, cloves, ginger, white mustard, black pepper, and turmeric.

  3. Stir in the brown sugar until dissolved.

  4. Add the onions, red pepper, and horseradish.

  5. Optionally, drop in any kind of fruit you wish to pickle.

Rest and use

  1. Allow the mixture to sit for a few days 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 + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Clove + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,876 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Clove + peppertop 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

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the onions and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out and seasons the brine.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness and depth.
Onions
The main vegetable that softens and takes on the spiced brine flavour.
White mustard
Adds a pungent, sharp note to the brine.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, clove, ginger, mustard, pepper, turmeric, sugar):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, clove, ginger, mustard, pepper, turmeric, 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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