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Mixed Pickles

A pickled mixture of cabbage, cucumbers, onions, and spices preserved in vinegar and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Mixed Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Prepare the vegetables: chop the cabbage, slice the large cucumbers, and peel the small white onions.

  2. Salt the vegetables well and let them stand overnight.

  3. Drain the brine and soak the pickles in a mixture of weak vinegar and water for 1-2 days, then drain again.

Make the pickling syrup

  1. Mix the spices together and boil them in the vinegar and brown sugar, stirring until dissolved.

  2. Repeat the boiling process for three mornings.

Pack and store

  1. On the third morning, transfer the pickles to a large stone jar or tightly sealed bottle.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  5. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Provides bulk and a crisp texture that holds up through the long pickling process.
Cucumbers
Supply crunch and fresh body, which salting helps firm up before pickling.
Onions
Add savory flavour and crisp texture to the mixed pickle.
White mustard seed
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that mellows during the long pickling process.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its tang.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness and depth.

The step that matters

Salting overnight and draining. Salt draws water out of the vegetables through osmosis, firming their texture. Draining well removes excess brine so the vinegar mixture is not diluted and the pickles stay crisp.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, cucumber, mustard, celery, turmeric, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Cauliflowerfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, cucumber, mustard, celery, turmeric, pepper, 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

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