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Onion Pickles

Pickled onions preserved in brine, milk, and vinegar with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Onion Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel the silver onions and soak them in strong brine for 3 days, changing the brine once.

  2. Drain the onions and simmer them in a mixture of milk and water for a short time.

  3. Remove the onions and let them dry.

Pickle

  1. Place the onions in a jar and pour hot vinegar over them, flavored with mace and pepper.

  2. Optionally, add white mustard seed.

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

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

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Silver onions
Form the main body of the pickle, becoming tender and mild after brining.
Strong brine
Draws out moisture and salt, firming the onions and seasoning them before pickling.
Hot vinegar
Acidity that preserves the onions and gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavor.
Milk
Softens the sharpness of the onions during the short simmer, mellowing their flavor.

The step that matters

Soaking in strong brine. Soaking for the full 3 days, with the brine changed once, draws out moisture and sulfur-rich sharpness from the onions. Cutting the time short leaves them harsh and watery.

Swap the mustard

The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, milk, vinegar, mace, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, milk, vinegar, mace, pepper. 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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