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To Pickle Cucumbers

A method of pickling cucumbers using salt, vinegar, alum, and cabbage leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and cabbage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 722 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Pickle Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Soak cucumbers in cold salt water for four days, weighted down with a cabbage leaf.

  2. Drain the cucumbers.

  3. Place them in a clean brass pan lined with cabbage leaves.

  4. Cover with equal parts vinegar and water. Add a little pounded alum. Add more cabbage leaves on top.

Scald and cool

  1. Heat the mixture until scalding hot. Remove from heat and let it cool.

  2. Repeat heating until scalding hot. Repeat cooling.

  3. The next morning, heat the cucumbers twice with fresh leaves and the same liquid.

  4. Drain the cucumbers.

Green and pack

  1. For six to eight dozen cucumbers, add ½ pint of vinegar and enough water to cover them, along with some salt.

  2. Scald them until they turn a good green.

  3. Drain them.

  4. Pour boiling water over them for a short time.

  5. Transfer the cucumbers into wide-mouthed bottles.

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. Cucumber + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Their firm flesh softens in brine and then takes up the vinegar flavour as they pickle.
Cold salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them during the long initial soak.
Vinegar
Its acidity preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp, sour taste.
Pounded alum
Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp through repeated heating.

The step that matters

Scald until green. Heating acidic liquid over a long period can turn cucumbers dull and olive-brown, while a short scald in a clean pan helps keep their bright green colour. Repeated heating also softens texture, so watch the colour rather than the clock.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, vinegar):

  1. Radishfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, 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.

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