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Oil Pickle

A pickled cucumber salad preserved in oil, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Oil Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Layer cucumbers and onions in a bowl, sprinkling salt between layers. Let sit for 5 hours.

  2. Drain the mixture in a colander.

Combine and store

  1. In a large bowl, combine cucumbers, onions, pepper, allspice, cloves, olive oil, mustard, and enough cider vinegar to cover. Mix well and transfer to jars, sealing tightly.

  2. Store in a cool place for a few weeks before using.

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.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the bulk of the pickle and give it its crisp, crunchy texture.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and onions, firming them and seasoning the pickle.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the pickle its tang and helps preserve it.
Olive oil
Adds fat and richness, coating the vegetables and carrying flavour.
Mustard
Contributes sharp, pungent flavour that balances the sweetness and acidity.

The step that matters

Draining after the salt rest. Salt pulls water out of the cucumbers and onions over the five hours. Draining removes that liquid so the pickle stays crisp and the brine is not diluted.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, pepper, allspice, clove, olive, mustard, cider):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, pepper, allspice, clove, olive, mustard, cider. 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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