Why it works: Onion and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,226 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Pickled Onions
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the onions
Peel the small onions until they are white.
Scald them in a mixture of salt and water until tender.
Remove the onions and place them in wide-mouthed bottles.
Pickle and store
Pour hot spiced vinegar over the onions.
When the vinegar is cold, cork the bottles tightly.
Store in a dry, dark place.
Optionally, add 1 tablespoon of sweet oil to the bottles before corking.
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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Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Small white onions
- Form the body of the pickle, softening when scalded and taking on the vinegar's flavor.
- Hot spiced vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity and spice flavor, and preserves the onions as they steep.
The step that matters
Scald the onions until tender. Heat softens the onion's cell structure so it can absorb the vinegar. Underdone onions stay firm and sharp, while overcooked onions turn soft and mushy in the jar.
“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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