Name: Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients: Cucumbers; 1 gallon vinegar; 1 ounce alum; 2 tablespoons white mustard seed; 1 tablespoon cloves; 1 tablespoon celery seed; 1 tablespoon stick cinnamon; 1 large green pepper; a little horseradish; ½ pint sugar

Why it works: Mustard and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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.

Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,832 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cucumber + horseradishtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together640 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers: Are the main body of the pickle, becoming crisp and firm as they are cured.
Vinegar: Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
Alum: Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp during the long pickling process.
White mustard seed: Adds a sharp, pungent flavor to the spiced vinegar.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Green pepper: Adds fresh, vegetal flavor and a little texture to the pickles.

The step that matters

Heating the cucumbers in alum-vinegar without boiling. Heating slowly and turning the cucumbers keeps them evenly heated and firm. Overheating softens cucumber cell walls, so the pickles turn mushy instead of crisp.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, vinegar, mustard, clove, cinnamon, pepper, horseradish):

Allspicefits better
Tarragonfits better
Dillfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar, mustard, clove, cinnamon, pepper, 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.

Cucumber Pickles