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Pickling Cauliflower

A method of preserving cauliflower by boiling it in salted water and then brining it with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pickling Cauliflower

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the cauliflower

  1. Break the cauliflower into small pieces.

  2. Boil in strong saltwater for 10 minutes.

  3. Skim out the pieces.

  4. Ensure the pieces are tender.

  5. Drain on a towel until completely cold.

Pickle

  1. Place in a pickle jar with cloves, allspice, pepper, and cinnamon tied in a cloth.

  2. Boil the brine and skim it.

  3. Pour the brine over the cauliflower.

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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Forms the bulk of the pickle, and boiling softens its texture so it can absorb the brine.
Whole cloves
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the brine.
Allspice
Contributes a warm, aromatic flavour that deepens the brine.
Cinnamon sticks
Adds sweet, woody aroma to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Ensure the pieces are tender. Cauliflower must be fully tender before pickling, because cold brine does not soften it. Undercooked florets stay firm and crunchy, while overcooked ones break apart and turn mushy.

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, allspice, pepper, cinnamon):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, allspice, pepper, cinnamon. 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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