Why it works: Mustard and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Cucumber Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
Pare and slice the cucumbers, then salt them and let them sit overnight.
Drain and dry the cucumbers the next morning.
Add the chopped peppers and horseradish to the cucumbers. Mix in the mustard seed and celery seed.
Make the pickle
Bring 2 quarts and 1 pint of vinegar to a boil in a kettle. Add the brown sugar to the boiling vinegar.
Mix the mustard with the remaining vinegar. Add the mustard mixture to the kettle.
Cook until the mixture is very thick. Add all other ingredients and cook until thickened.
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.
-
Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Cucumber + horseradishtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together640 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,281 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 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
- Form the bulk of the pickle, providing crisp texture once salted and drained.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp tang.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar and mustard.
- Mustard
- Adds pungent flavor and helps thicken the sauce as it cooks.
- Mustard seed
- Contributes a sharp, nutty bite and texture to the pickle.
- Onions
- Add savory flavor and aroma to the pickle.
The step that matters
Cook until very thick. Cooking the mustard and sugar mixture down thickens the sauce by evaporating water and letting starches and proteins set. Stopping early leaves a thin, watery pickle that may not keep well.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, mustard, pepper, celery, horseradish, sugar, vinegar):
- Lettucefits better
- Radishfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, mustard, pepper, celery, horseradish, sugar, 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 cucumber pickle recipes
You might also like
Cream of Celery Soup113 recipes
Celery Stew25 recipes
Horseradish Sauce17 recipes
Celery Croquettes16 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.