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 ↓
Home-brewed Pickled Onions
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the onions
Peel the onions and soak them in a strong saltwater solution for three days.
After soaking, pack the onions into quart jars.
Make the pickling liquid
In a pot, combine the vinegar, brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and garlic in a cheesecloth bag.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then pour it over the onions in the jars.
Let the onions sit overnight.
Pour the liquid back into the pot.
Add the spice bag back to the pot.
Bring the liquid to a boil again.
Pour the hot liquid over the onions once more.
Repeat daily
Repeat this process daily for a week, adding more vinegar and sugar if needed to cover the onions.
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.
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White onions
- Provide the main vegetable that becomes crisp and tangy after pickling.
- Sea salt
- Draws water out of the onions during the long saltwater soak, firming them.
- Cider vinegar
- Supplies the acidity that preserves the onions and gives them their sharp flavor.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness and depth.
- Cinnamon sticks
- Add warm aromatic flavor to the pickling liquid.
- Whole cloves
- Add warm, pungent aroma to the pickling liquid.
The step that matters
Soaking the onions in strong saltwater. Salt draws water out of the onions through osmosis, firming their texture and reducing harshness. Soaking too briefly leaves them soft or sharp, so the full soak time matters.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, sugar, clove, cinnamon, garlic):
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, sugar, clove, cinnamon, garlic. 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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