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To Preserve Cucumbers

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Preserve Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

  1. Soak fresh large gherkins in a mixture of salt and water for 2 days.

  2. Drain and wipe the gherkins dry, then place them in jars.

  3. In a pot, combine equal parts sugar, vinegar, and water; bring to a boil.

  4. Pour the hot mixture over the gherkins, cover, and place in a warm area.

  5. Boil the mixture again and pour it over the gherkins for 3 consecutive days.

  6. For the syrup, boil 1 quart of the liquid with plenty of cloves, mace, ginger, and lemon peel for 30 minutes.

  7. Strain the mixture, add plenty of sifted sugar, and clarify with egg whites if needed.

  8. Boil until it reaches a strong syrup consistency, then pour over the gherkins.

  9. Seal the jars tightly.

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. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Mace + gingertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, clove, ginger, lemon, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, clove, ginger, lemon, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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