Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Pickled Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
Brine the cucumbers
Wash the cucumbers thoroughly.
Make a brine with salt and water strong enough to float an egg, and pour it over the cucumbers.
Place a weight on top to keep the cucumbers submerged and let them stand for nine days.
After nine days, remove the cucumbers and wash them in fresh water.
Green the cucumbers
Line the bottom of a kettle with green cabbage leaves, add the cucumbers, and cover with equal parts vinegar and water.
Add another layer of cabbage leaves on top.
Heat over a slow fire until the water is hot, but do not let it simmer.
Once the cucumbers are perfectly green, remove them and let them drain.
Pack and store
Wipe the cucumbers dry and pack them in jars with allspice, cloves, and small onions or garlic.
Add a piece of alum to each jar to keep them firm.
Cover the pickles with the best cider vinegar, seal tightly, and store in a cool, dry place.
For added flavor, mix in 1 tablespoon of sugar.
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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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Cucumber + allspicetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together501 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
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Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- The main vegetable that is brined, greened and pickled into firm, crisp pieces.
- Cider vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavor.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers during brining, firming their texture and seasoning them.
- Alum
- Helps keep the cucumbers firm during pickling.
The step that matters
Heating the cucumbers without simmering. Heating gently until the water is hot but not simmering lets the cucumbers turn green while keeping their flesh firm. Boiling would soften them and can make the pickles mushy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cider, vinegar, allspice, clove, sugar):
- Mustardfits better
- Radishfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cider, vinegar, allspice, clove, sugar. 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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