Why it works: Allspice and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,928 recipes mention both. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓
To Pickle Gherkins
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gherkins
Spread the gherkins on dishes and sprinkle them with coarse sea salt.
Let them sit for a week with a small bit of alum.
Drain the gherkins.
Pickle and colour
Place them in a jar and pour boiling vinegar over them.
Cover the jar with vine leaves and set it near the fire.
If the gherkins do not turn a good green, pour the vinegar into another jar.
Heat the vinegar until it's too hot to touch but not boiling.
Pour the heated vinegar over the gherkins again and cover with fresh leaves.
Repeat until the desired color is achieved.
Spice the pickle
If not using spices in the pickle, place allspice, mace, and mustard seed in a thin muslin bag.
Add the muslin bag to the kettle for every quart of vinegar.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,189 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,548 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
-
Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together4,415 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gherkins
- Are the vegetable being pickled, so they supply the main texture and crunch of the finished dish.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the gherkins, firming them and preparing them to take up the vinegar.
- Alum
- Helps the gherkins stay firm and crisp during pickling.
- Boiling vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the gherkins and gives the pickle its sour flavour.
- Mustard seed
- Adds a sharp, pungent flavour to the pickling liquid.
The step that matters
Heating and re-pouring the vinegar for colour. Gherkins must be kept in hot, acidic liquid to turn green. Vinegar that is too hot to touch but not boiling is used, because boiling can soften the gherkins and overheating can spoil the colour and texture.
Flavor stand-ins for the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, allspice, mustard):
- Tarragonbetter flavor fit
- Clovebetter flavor fit
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, allspice, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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