Name: Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients: one-half cup olive oil; one-half cup white mustard seed; one-half cup black mustard seed; one tablespoon celery seed; one dozen cucumbers; three onions; vinegar

Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

One dozen cucumbers, three onions, one-half cup olive oil, one-half cup white mustard seed, one-half cup black mustard seed, one tablespoon celery seed. Slice the cu- cumbers and onions. Cover with salt and let stand three hours. Drain, add olive oil and other ingredients, pack in glass jars and cover with vinegar, then seal.
Mrs. H. a. Seward.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

194Calories

3 gProtein

14 gFat

16 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Celery Seed	1 stalk (40g)	6
White Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Seed	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.

By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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.

Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Mustard + cucumbertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,281 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Olive + cucumbertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, mustard, celery, cucumber, vinegar):

Lettucefits better
Horseradishfits better
Broccolifits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, mustard, celery, cucumber, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.