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Pickled Lemons

A preserved lemon preparation using salt, ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, cayenne pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and clove 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 ↓

Pickled Lemons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lemons

  1. Scrape the lemons well.

  2. Cut them into 4 parts without separating them.

  3. Rub the lemons with coarse sea salt, then cover them with it.

  4. Leave for 3 days.

Pack and pickle

  1. In a jar, combine the lemons, slices of white ginger, garlic cloves, mustard seeds, and cayenne pepper.

  2. Gently squeeze the lemons as you place them in the jar.

  3. Cover the mixture with plenty of good vinegar.

  4. Seal tightly.

  5. Let it sit for a month 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. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Garlic + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Lemons
Provide the main acidic, aromatic flesh and peel that soften and flavour during pickling.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the lemons and preserves them through the salting period.
Good vinegar
Acidifies the jar and helps preserve the lemons while they soften over the month.
White ginger
Adds a warm, aromatic note that infuses into the pickled lemons.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows and infuses into the lemons over time.

The step that matters

Leave the lemons to sit for a month. Salt and vinegar need time to soften the peel and flesh and blend the flavours. Using the lemons early leaves them harsh and underdeveloped.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, clove, garlic, mustard, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Mangofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, clove, garlic, mustard, pepper, vinegar. 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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