Why it works: Clove and cassia match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 194 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Cucumber Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
Wash the cucumbers carefully to avoid bruising.
Dissolve the salt in boiling water and pour it over the cucumbers; let them stand for 24 hours.
Pour off the liquid and rinse the cucumbers.
Dissolve the alum in boiling water and pour it over the cucumbers; let them stand for 5 hours.
Pour off the liquid and rinse the cucumbers again.
Make the pickling syrup
Combine enough cider vinegar to cover the pickles with the spices tied in a bag and sugar; cook for 30 minutes.
Pack and store
Pour the boiling mixture over the packed cucumbers in an earthen jar, cool, cover, and store.
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 + cassiatop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together194 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,281 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Clove + mustardtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,829 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Main vegetable; the salt and alum soaks firm and crisp them.
- Fine salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers, firming texture and aiding preservation.
- Alum
- Helps keep the cucumbers firm and crisp during soaking.
- Cider vinegar
- Provides the acidity that gives the pickles their sour flavour and preserves them.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar with sweetness.
The step that matters
Rinsing between soaks. Pouring off the salt and alum liquids and rinsing the cucumbers removes residual salt and alum, so the final pickles are not overly salty or harsh in flavour.
Swap the cassia
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, egg, cider, vinegar, clove, mustard, sugar):
- Allspicefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Cassiathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, egg, cider, vinegar, clove, mustard, sugar. 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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