Why it works: Horseradish and mustard 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 ↓
Pickled Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Make a brine by boiling 1 pint of coarse sea salt in 6 quarts of water. Skim clear.
Wash the cucumbers and soak them in the brine for 48 hours, covered.
Drain the cucumbers and soak them in cold water for 2 hours, then drain again.
Pack and pickle
Place the cucumbers in a crock with the onion, horseradish, red peppers, and alum.
Fill a muslin bag with the mixed spices and boil it in enough vinegar to cover the cucumbers for 10 minutes.
Add the spice bag to the crock with the vinegar.
On the third day, pour off the vinegar, reheat it, and return it to the pickles.
Do not use for three weeks.
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.
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Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Cucumber + horseradishtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together640 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Form the pickles themselves, becoming crisp and firm as they cure in brine and vinegar.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them during the brine soak.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavour.
- Horseradish root
- Adds a pungent, sharp flavour that infuses the pickles as they sit.
- Mixed spices
- Flavour the vinegar with aromatic notes of clove, allspice, cinnamon and mustard.
The step that matters
Soaking the cucumbers in the brine for 48 hours. The salt draws water out of the cucumbers, which firms their texture and helps prevent spoilage. The brine must fully cover them and the cucumbers must stay submerged, or soft spots and spoilage can develop.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, clove, horseradish, pepper, celery, mustard, allspice):
- Lettucefits better
- Turnipfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, clove, horseradish, pepper, celery, mustard, allspice. 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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