Why it works: Cauliflower and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 888 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
A Second Way to Pickle Cauliflowers
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Harvest cauliflowers in bunches.
Scald them briefly in salt water.
Spread on a cloth and sprinkle with salt.
Cover with another cloth until drained.
Dry in the sun until completely dry.
Pickle and seal
Place in jars, filling them halfway.
Pour hot vinegar with spices over the cauliflowers.
Seal jars tightly with a bladder and leather.
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.
-
Cauliflower + vinegartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together888 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cauliflowers
- Form the main body of the pickle, taking on the flavour of the brine and vinegar.
- Hot vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickled cauliflower.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the cauliflower during draining and drying, firming its texture.
The step that matters
Drying in the sun until completely dry. Removing surface and internal moisture before jarring helps the cauliflower stay crisp and keeps excess water from diluting the vinegar and encouraging spoilage.
“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.
More pickled cauliflower recipes
You might also like
Cauliflower Soup28 recipes
Cream of Cauliflower Soup22 recipes
Creamed Cauliflower17 recipes
Escalloped Cauliflower9 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.