Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Lemon Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemons
Grate the rind of the lemons, avoiding the white pith underneath.
Peel off the white pith.
Cut the lemons in half.
Make cuts towards the middle, about 2 inches deep.
Rub the lemons with coarse sea salt.
Let them dry in a cool oven until the juice is absorbed.
Pack and steep
Place the lemons in a jar with mustard seeds, garlic, mace, cloves, and nutmeg in a muslin bag.
Pour boiling white wine vinegar over the lemons.
Seal the jar tightly.
Let it sit by the fire for one week.
Shake it 4-5 times daily.
After a week, secure the jar with bladder and leather.
Wait 4-5 months until the pickle loses its bitter flavor.
Strain and bottle
Bottle it.
Press the lemons and pickle through a sieve to extract the liquid.
Let the liquid settle for 24 hours.
Pour it off through muslin into bottles and cork them securely.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,053 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lemons
- Provide the main body and sharp acidity that the pickle is built around.
- Mustard seeds
- Add a pungent, sharp flavor that carries through the long steeping.
- Garlic
- Adds pungent savoury depth that mellows during the long steep.
- Mace
- Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickle.
- Cloves
- Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickle.
- White wine vinegar
- Acts as the preserving liquid, adding acidity that extracts flavour from the lemons and spices.
The step that matters
Sealing and long resting. The jar must be sealed tightly and kept undisturbed for months so the bitterness mellows and the pickle matures. Sealing keeps the liquid from evaporating or spoiling, and the time lets the harsh flavours blend.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, mustard, garlic, clove, nutmeg, white wine, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Thymefits better
- Allspicefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, mustard, garlic, clove, nutmeg, white wine, vinegar. 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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