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Silver Onions

A preserved onion dish preserved in brine, vinegar, spices, and olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Silver Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Brine the onions

  1. Select and peel a peck of globular onions, placing them in a strong salt and water solution.

  2. Let the onions soak for 10 to 12 days, changing the brine every second day.

  3. Drain the onions on a sieve, then place them in jars.

  4. Prepare a fresh brine with coarse sea salt and boiling water, and pour it over the onions. Cover the jars tightly and let them cool.

  5. Repeat the scalding process with fresh brine, then drain thoroughly.

Pack and seal

  1. Add bay leaves, laurel leaves, whole chillies, sliced ginger, and whole mace to the jars.

  2. Pour in 3 quarts of cold vinegar to fill the jars.

  3. Top with olive oil, about 1 inch deep, to exclude air.

  4. Seal the jars with wetted bladder and then with soft leather.

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 + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Laurel + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Ginger + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,725 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Onion + laureltop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,335 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

Globular onions
Form the main body of the pickle, becoming firm and crisp after brining.
Strong salt
Draws water out of the onions and seasons them during the long soak.
Best vinegar
Acidifies the jars, preserving the onions and giving them their sharp flavour.
Olive oil
Forms a layer on top that keeps air away from the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Draining after the repeated scalding. Any brine left on the onions dilutes the vinegar and can weaken the preservation, so they should be drained thoroughly before packing.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, laurel, ginger, vinegar, olive. 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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