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Onions, Pickled

Onions pickled in a vinegar, peppercorn, salt, and ginger mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,595 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Onions, Pickled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the onions

  1. Peel the small silver onions carefully, avoiding cutting the bulb.

  2. Use warm water to make peeling easier.

  3. Place the peeled onions in a bowl of white-wine vinegar.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. Strain the vinegar into an enamelled stewpan.

  2. Add peppercorns, salt, and ginger to the stewpan.

  3. Boil the mixture gently for 5 minutes.

  4. Let the mixture cool.

Pickle and store

  1. Pour the cooled liquid over the onions, ensuring they are completely covered.

  2. Boil the vinegar mixture two more times.

  3. Seal the jars.

  4. Cork the jars securely.

  5. Cover them with bladder for storage.

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 + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

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

  2. Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Wine + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,626 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + gingertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,126 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Small silver onions
The main vegetable, which softens slightly and takes on the sharp, savoury flavour of the brine.
White-wine vinegar
Acidity that preserves the onions and gives them their sharp, tangy flavour.
Whole peppercorns
Adds a warm, pungent aroma that infuses into the pickling liquid.
Ginger
Adds a fresh, aromatic warmth to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Pour the cooled liquid over the onions, ensuring they are completely covered.. Onions left exposed above the liquid can spoil or discolour, because the acidic vinegar only protects the parts it covers. Letting the liquid cool first avoids softening the onions with heat.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, vinegar, onion):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wine, vinegar, onion. 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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