Why it works: Cucumber and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,734 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓
Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Layer cucumbers in a jar, sprinkling coarse sea salt between each layer.
Cover the cucumbers with scalding water and let it cool.
Once cooled, bring the water to a scalding point again and pour it over the cucumbers.
Repeat the scalding process three times, allowing the water to cool each time before pouring it off.
Prepare a weak vinegar by heating it to a scalding point and letting it cool; repeat this process six times.
Spice the good vinegar, scald it, and pour it over the pickles.
Once cooled, the pickles are ready to use.
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.
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Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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