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Oil Pickles

Cucumbers pickled in oil with celery seed, mustard seeds, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Oil Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Wash cucumbers.

  2. Slice cucumbers.

  3. Let cucumbers stand overnight in salt water.

  4. Drain cucumbers.

  5. Wipe cucumbers dry.

Make the pickles

  1. Pour olive oil over cucumbers and mix thoroughly.

  2. Add celery seed and mustard seeds.

  3. Cover with vinegar.

  4. Pack into jars while cold.

  5. Seal jars.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Cucumber + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the crisp, bulky body of the pickle.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the sharp vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves and sharpens the flavor.
Olive oil
Adds fat and richness, coating the cucumber slices.
Celery seed
Contributes a warm, savory aroma.
Mustard seeds
Add pungent flavor and a little heat when steeped.

The step that matters

Wipe cucumbers dry. Surface moisture left after draining dilutes the oil and vinegar and softens the slices. Thorough drying helps the oil coat the cucumber and keeps the pickles crisp.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, sugar, mustard, vinegar, olive. 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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