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Onion Pickle

A preserved onion dish made by brining, scalding vinegar with turmeric, and storing for up to two weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and turmeric are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,913 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Onion Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Brine the onions

  1. Pour boiling salt water over the onions and let them stand for three days.

  2. Pour off the brine and add fresh boiling brine, letting it sit for another three days.

Pickle

  1. Scald the vinegar with the turmeric in the muslin bag for a few moments.

  2. Pour the hot vinegar over the onions and cover tightly.

  3. Let the mixture stand for ten days to two weeks.

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. Onion + turmerictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,913 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Vinegar + turmerictop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Large white onions
The vegetable being pickled; brining softens its texture and mellows its sharpness.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the onions and gives the pickle its tangy, sharp flavor.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its yellow color and an earthy, aromatic flavor.

The step that matters

Pour the hot vinegar over the onions and cover tightly. The vinegar must be hot when poured so it penetrates the onions well. Covering the container keeps heat and aromas in while the acid works on the vegetables.

Swap the turmeric

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Turmericthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, 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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