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Cucumber Pickles

A method of pickling cucumbers using brine, alum, vinegar, horseradish, spices, and grape leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 640 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Choose cucumbers and place them in brine that will float an egg.

  2. Boil the brine for 3 mornings, pouring it over the pickles hot each time.

  3. On the third morning, drain the brine from the pickles.

Vinegar and alum

  1. Mix half water and half good vinegar, boil for 3 mornings, pouring it over the pickles hot.

  2. Add a big piece of alum and cover with grape leaves in the jars.

Pack and store

  1. On the seventh morning, drain the pickles and place them in a stone jar.

  2. Pour boiling hot cider vinegar over the pickles, then add a piece of horseradish and alum.

  3. Spice to your liking, cover with grape leaves, and seal the jar.

  4. Let the pickles stand for 3 to 6 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. Cucumber + horseradishtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together640 recipes

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

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Grape + cidertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together349 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Firm base that stays crisp through repeated hot brine and vinegar pourings.
Alum
Helps the pickles stay firm and crisp during the long hot soaking.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavor.
Horseradish
Adds a sharp, pungent aroma and flavor to the finished pickles.

The step that matters

Pouring boiling hot brine or vinegar each morning. The pickles must be kept hot through repeated pourings so they gradually absorb salt and acid and firm up. If the liquid cools or the pouring is skipped, the cucumbers may soften or spoil.

Swap the grape

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, egg, cider, vinegar, horseradish. 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.

More cucumber pickles recipes

Sweet 23Green 9Spiced 9Small 7Sliced 6Sour 5 See all 334 →

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