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Onion Pickles

A brined and vinegar-preserved onion pickle with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Onion Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the onions

  1. Peel the onions.

  2. Soak the onions in a brine of 1 ½ cups salt dissolved in 2 quarts boiling water for 2 days.

  3. Drain the onions.

  4. Repeat the brining process.

  5. Boil the onions in fresh brine for 5 minutes.

  6. Drain the onions.

Pickle and seal

  1. Pack the onions into bottles, adding bits of mace, white peppercorns, and slices of red peppers.

  2. Fill the bottles to the top with scalded vinegar mixed with 1 cup sugar.

  3. Cork and seal the bottles while hot.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Small white onions
The main vegetable that softens and turns crisp-tender in the brine and pickling liquid.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the onions during brining, firming their texture and seasoning them.
Vinegar
Acidic liquid that preserves the onions and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.

The step that matters

Repeat the brining process. Salt draws moisture out of the onions and firms their texture; a second soak with fresh brine removes more of the harsh, sulfurous onion taste and leaves them evenly seasoned before pickling.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, vinegar, sugar):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, vinegar, sugar. 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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