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Pickled Onions

Pickled onions preserved in a vinegar and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pickled Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brine

  1. Boil the salt in water to make a brine.

  2. Rub off the skins from the onions and add them to the brine.

  3. Let the onions soak in the brine for 24 hours.

Pickle

  1. Wipe the onions dry and place them in wide-mouthed bottles.

  2. In a separate pot, boil the vinegar with peppercorns, mustard seed, and coriander seeds for 5 minutes.

  3. Allow the mixture to cool, then pour it over the onions in the bottles.

  4. Cork the bottles tightly and let them sit for 2 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. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + coriandertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Onion + coriandertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the onions during the brine, firming them and seasoning them.
White vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the onions and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
Small silver skinned onions
Form the body of the pickle, becoming tender and mild as they cure.
Peppercorns
Add pungent, aromatic heat that infuses into the vinegar.
Mustard seed
Adds a sharp, slightly pungent aroma and flavor to the vinegar.

The step that matters

Drying the onions before pickling. Any brine left on the onions dilutes the vinegar and can weaken preservation, so the onions should be wiped dry before they go into the bottles.

Swap the coriander

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, vinegar, 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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