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 ↓
Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pickles
Parboil the pickles in vinegar.
Let them cool completely.
Pour scalding hot vinegar over the cooled pickles.
Dissolve a small lump of alum in the vinegar to keep pickles crisp and green.
Spice and store
For spiced pickles, add cloves and cinnamon in bags, along with bits of horseradish and peppers.
Add a handful of sugar per gallon.
Store pickles in a dry, cool place in stone or glass jars, keeping them covered with vinegar.
If white specks appear on the vinegar, drain and scald it.
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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Cinnamon + horseradishtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together515 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Clove + horseradishtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,245 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Good sharp vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavour.
- Alum
- Helps keep the pickles firm and crisp, preventing them from softening.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
- Cloves
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, sweet aroma and spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
- Horseradish
- Adds a pungent, sharp heat that flavours the pickles.
The step that matters
Let the pickles cool completely before pouring on the hot vinegar. Pouring scalding vinegar over warm pickles can soften them and cook their texture, so letting them cool first helps them stay firm and crisp.
Swap the horseradish
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, clove, cinnamon, pepper, mustard):
- Horseradishthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotfits less well
- Radishfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, clove, cinnamon, pepper, mustard. 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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