Why it works: Horseradish and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,784 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Pickled Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the brine
Make a brine of one pint of coarse salt and six quarts of boiling water, boil and skim clear, wash.
Put one hundred and fifty small cucumbers in the brine and let remain forty‑eight hours, covered, then drain. Soak in cold water for two hours, drain and put them in a crock.
Add the flavourings
Stick one large onion full of cloves, an ounce of horseradish root and several little red peppers, and put with the cucumbers and a piece of alum the size of a pea.
Fill a muslin bag with one cup of mixed spices, celery seed, white mustard seed, whole cloves, allspice, peppercorns, stick cinnamon, boil this in vinegar enough to cover the cucumbers for ten minutes.
Finish and rest
Put the bag in the crock with the vinegar, pour off the vinegar the third day, reheat it and return to the pickles.
Do not use for three weeks.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Pea | 1/2 cup (72g) | 62 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Clove | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Horseradish | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Horseradish + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,784 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Horseradish + clovetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,245 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,901 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers (in the method)
- The main vegetable, which softens and takes on flavour during brining and pickling.
- Coarse salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them, firming the texture during the brine.
- Vinegar (in the method)
- Provides the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavour.
- Mixed spices
- Supply the aroma and warm flavour that the vinegar carries into the cucumbers.
- Horseradish root
- Adds a sharp, pungent aroma that mellows as the pickles rest.
The step that matters
Pouring off and reheating the vinegar on the third day. The vinegar must be fully drained and brought back to a boil before returning it, so the pickles are evenly covered and the brine stays acidic enough to preserve them safely.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (horseradish, onion):
- Capersfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against horseradish, onion. 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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