Why it works: Mustard and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Brine the cucumbers
Choose cucumbers 3 or 4 inches long, with a stem; put in brine that will float an egg.
Boil this brine 3 mornings.
Pour the hot brine over the pickles.
Second brine
On the third morning, drain the brine from the pickles.
Take half water and half good vinegar.
Boil the mixture 3 mornings.
Pour the hot mixture over the pickles.
Pack and store
Put a big piece of alum in the jars.
Cover the jars with grape leaves.
On the seventh morning, drain pickles.
Put the pickles in a stone jar.
Pour boiling hot good cider vinegar over the pickles.
Put a piece of horseradish and alum in the jar.
Add spices as desired.
Cover the jar.
Let the pickles stand for 3 to 6 weeks before using.
Overnight vinegar method
Wash cucumbers and soak overnight.
Dissolve 1 gallon vinegar, 1 cup salt, and 1 cup Colman's mustard, and let stand overnight.
Fill jars with cucumbers.
Pour the vinegar mixture over the pickles.
Seal the jars.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Mustard | 1 tsp (5g) yellow | 3 |
| 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.
-
Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 being pickled, which takes on the flavour of the brine.
- Vinegar
- Provides the sour acidity that flavours the pickles and helps preserve them.
- Alum
- Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp during pickling.
- Colman's mustard
- Adds a sharp, pungent flavour to the brine.
The step that matters
Pour the hot brine over the pickles. Pouring the brine while it is hot helps the vinegar and seasonings penetrate the cucumbers, so the flavour is even. Letting it cool first can leave the pickles less flavoured.
“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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