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Pears, Pickled

A vinegar‑brined pickled pear recipe with onions, spices, and ginger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pears, Pickled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pears and onions

  1. In a tin saucepan, combine vinegar, salt, onions, and unpeeled pears.

  2. Simmer gently until pears are tender but not broken.

  3. Remove pears and let them cool, then peel, core, and cut into 6-8 pieces.

  4. Remove onions, mash them through a fine sieve, and set aside.

Make the seasoned vinegar

  1. Add peppercorns, cloves, allspice, mace, ginger, turmeric, and garlic to the vinegar.

  2. Boil for 10 minutes, then stir in the mashed onion and boil for another 10 minutes.

Pack and store

  1. Place pears in jars and pour the seasoned vinegar over them.

  2. Divide spices among the jars and place them on top of the pears.

  3. Seal jars with bladder and store in a cool, dry place.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Pears
Firm baking pears soften while holding their shape, becoming tender and absorbing the spiced vinegar.
Vinegar
Its acidity preserves the fruit and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavour.
Onions
Cooked and mashed, they thicken the vinegar and add savoury body and sweetness.
Turmeric
Provides a yellow colour and warm, earthy flavour to the pickling liquid.
Ginger
Adds a warm, pungent aroma that complements the sweet pears and sharp vinegar.

The step that matters

Simmering the pears until tender but not broken. Pears cook quickly and can fall apart if overheated. Holding them just below breaking point keeps their shape and texture intact through pickling.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, onion, pear, clove, allspice, ginger, turmeric):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, onion, pear, clove, allspice, ginger, turmeric. 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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