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Oil Pickles

A pickled cucumber and onion relish preserved in oil, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery 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 ↓

Oil Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Salt and drain

  1. Layer cucumbers and sliced onions with coarse sea salt in a bowl.

  2. Let sit overnight under a weight.

  3. Drain the mixture.

Alum brine

  1. Pour enough cold vinegar over it to cover, adding dissolved powdered alum.

  2. Let stand for 6 hours.

  3. Drain again.

Pack and cure

  1. In a bowl, mix dry mustard, celery seed, black pepper, olive oil, and strong vinegar.

  2. Pour the mixture over the cucumbers and onions packed in glass jars.

  3. Seal the jars.

  4. Let the pickles sit for 2 weeks before using.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the pickle itself, becoming crisp and firm once salted and brined.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and onions, firming them and concentrating flavor.
Powdered alum
Helps keep the cucumbers firm and crisp during the long brining.
Dry mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor to the oil and vinegar dressing.
Olive oil
Adds fat and richness, carrying the spice flavors through the jars.
Strong vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their tang.

The step that matters

Draining after the overnight salting. Salt pulls water out of the cucumbers and onions. Draining off that liquid before the alum brine keeps the vegetables firm and stops the pickles from tasting watery and diluted.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

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