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Cucumbers, Pickled

A method for pickling small cucumbers with vinegar, spices, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cucumbers, Pickled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. If cucumbers are small, pickle them whole.

  2. If cucumbers are not small, cut them into thick slices.

  3. Sprinkle salt generously over cucumbers. Let them sit for 24 hours.

  4. Drain the cucumbers. Dry them with a cloth.

Pickle

  1. Pour boiling vinegar over them. Add mustard seed, salt, long pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne to the vinegar.

  2. Cover the cucumbers. Let them sit overnight.

  3. Boil the vinegar again. Pour it over the cucumbers each day for four days.

  4. Ensure cucumbers are fully covered with vinegar to prevent mold.

  5. Check for mold every three to four weeks. Transfer to a fresh dry bottle if needed.

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. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Mustard + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Main vegetable that is preserved and softened by the salt and vinegar.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers, firming them before pickling.
Boiling vinegar
Acid that preserves the cucumbers and gives them their sharp, tangy flavour.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, slightly bitter flavour to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Keep the cucumbers fully covered with vinegar. Any cucumber left above the liquid can grow mold, because air exposure lets mold spread on the surface. Keeping every piece submerged protects the batch.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

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