Why it works: Horseradish and mustard 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 ↓
Sliced Cucumber Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Brine
Place cucumbers in a jar or pail and cover with enough water to submerge them.
Add a small handful of coarse sea salt, cover tightly, and repeat for three mornings.
Make and pack the pickles
On the fourth morning, scald enough cider vinegar to cover the cucumbers.
Add alum and horseradish to the vinegar.
Tie mustard seeds, ground cloves, and cinnamon in a small muslin bag and add to the vinegar.
Slice cucumbers into ½‑inch thick pieces and place them in glass jars.
Pour the scalding vinegar mixture over the cucumbers and seal tightly.
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.
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Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cucumber + horseradishtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together640 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,281 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,147 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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 and provide its crisp, juicy texture.
- Cider vinegar
- Supplies the sharp acidity that defines the pickle and helps preserve it.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers during the brine, firming their texture.
- Alum
- Helps keep the cucumber pieces firm and crisp after pickling.
- Horseradish root
- Adds a pungent, sharp heat that flavors the vinegar.
- Mustard seeds
- Contribute a warm, nutty pungency to the spiced vinegar.
The step that matters
Pour the scalding vinegar over the cucumbers. The vinegar must be hot and must fully cover the cucumber pieces so none stay exposed to air. Keeping every piece submerged helps the pickles stay firm and keeps the surface from spoiling.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cider, vinegar, horseradish, mustard, clove, cinnamon):
- Chickpeafits better
- Lentilsfits better
- Beansfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cider, vinegar, horseradish, mustard, clove, cinnamon. 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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