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Salted Cucumbers

A method of preserving cucumbers by salting, brining, and later pickling with vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and cabbage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 722 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Salted Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brine

  1. Layer cucumbers and coarse sea salt in a cask or jar, 1 inch thick.

  2. Cover with cabbage or horseradish leaves, then a board and a weight.

  3. Pour 1 quart of water over the top.

  4. Add fresh layers of cucumbers and salt as needed.

  5. When nearly full, tuck a cloth tightly over the top, cover with the board and weight.

Store and freshen

  1. They will keep in the brine for 1 to 2 years.

  2. To use, soak cucumbers in fresh water for 3 days, changing the water daily.

Finish pickling

  1. Put them in a kettle with a lump of alum, cover with good vinegar, and bring to a boil.

  2. Discard the vinegar and finish pickling according to your preferred recipe.

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. Cucumber + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Main vegetable that ferments in the brine and becomes the pickle.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and forms the brine that preserves them.
Alum
Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp during the final pickling.
Good vinegar
Provides the sour acidity that defines the finished pickle.

The step that matters

Keeping the cucumbers fully submerged under the brine. Cucumbers exposed to air can soften and grow mold. Keeping the layers covered by the board, weight and brine protects them while they ferment and preserve.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Radishfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar. 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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