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Cucumber Pickles

Cucumbers pickled in a brine of water, cider vinegar, salt, and spices including mustard seed, cinnamon, cloves, red peppers, onions, sugar, mace, and horseradish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Shutt, William E., Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Wash cucumbers.

  2. Place cucumbers in a brine made of three gallons soft water, one gallon cider vinegar, and two quarts salt.

  3. When you wish to use them, freshen them by soaking in cold water.

Scald and pack

  1. Put cucumbers in a kettle, cover with weak vinegar, put grape leaves over, and scald until green.

  2. Prepare spice mixture: for one gallon of vinegar, mix one cup white mustard seed, one ounce stick cinnamon, one teaspoonful whole cloves, two red peppers, a few small onions, one pint sugar, one teaspoon mace, and a few pieces horseradish.

  3. Put pickles and spices in jars and cover with good strong cold vinegar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

74Calories
1 gProtein
1 gFat
18 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 11 ingredients. The other 4 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
White Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Cidernot in our table0
Seednot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Shutt, William E., Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. 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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mustard + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,581 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers (in the method)
Form the main body of the pickles, becoming crisp-firm once brined and then scalded.
Salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons the brine, helping them stay firm.
Cider vinegar
Provides the sour acidity that preserves the pickles and gives their tang.
Sugar
Balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar with sweetness.
White mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour to the spiced vinegar.

The step that matters

Scald until green. Scalding in weak vinegar must be brief and watched; overcooking softens the cucumbers, while the acid and heat set their green colour and firm texture.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, mustard, cinnamon, clove, sugar, pepper):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, mustard, cinnamon, clove, sugar, pepper. 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.

More cucumber pickles recipes

Sweet 23Green 9Spiced 9Small 7Sliced 6Sour 5 See all 334 →

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