Skip to main content
Main

Onion Pickle

A preserved onion mixture flavored with salt, sugar, vinegar, spices, and turmeric, left to mature for a month.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Onion Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the onions

  1. Peel the onions.

  2. Place the peeled onions in a porcelain kettle.

  3. Cover the onions with water.

  4. Dissolve the salt in the water.

  5. As the water heats, remove the kettle from the stove.

  6. Pour the onions and water into a jar.

  7. Let the jar sit for two days.

  8. Drain the mixture for several hours.

  9. Soak the onions in plain vinegar overnight.

  10. Drain the onions again for 3 hours.

Pickle and age

  1. Place the onions back in a jar.

  2. Cover the jar with boiled vinegar.

  3. Add the brown sugar, allspice, celery seed, white mustard seed, and turmeric.

  4. Seal the jar.

  5. Let the jar sit for a month.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Small white onions
Form the bulk of the pickle and absorb the brine and spiced vinegar as they soften.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the onions and seasons them during the brining stage.
Plain vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the onions and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness and adds depth of flavor.
White mustard seed
Contributes a sharp, pungent flavor that mellows during the long aging period.

The step that matters

Draining after the salt and water stage. Salt and water pull moisture out of the onions and make them firm; draining thoroughly removes excess brine so the vinegar-based pickling liquid is not diluted and the onions stay crisp rather than watery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, allspice, celery, mustard, turmeric):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, allspice, celery, mustard, 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.

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipesCelery CroquettesCelery Croquettes16 recipesCelery Cream SoupCelery Cream Soup15 recipes