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Pickling Eggs

Hard-boiled eggs pickled in a spiced vinegar solution.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓

Pickling Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Boil the eggs hard, then place them in cold water until completely cool.

  2. Remove the shells from the eggs.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In a pot, combine vinegar, black pepper, cayenne peppers, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves tied in muslin.

  2. Bring the vinegar mixture to a boil.

Pickle and serve

  1. Place the eggs in a jar and pour the boiling vinegar over them along with the spice bag.

  2. Set aside for a week before serving, sliced.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide the main body of the dish, which firms when boiled and absorbs the pickling flavour.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the eggs and gives the sharp pickled flavour.
Cayenne peppers
Add heat that builds in the liquid during the week of pickling.
Cinnamon
Adds warm aroma to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Cool the eggs completely before pickling. Eggs boiled hard and then plunged into cold water cool fully, which keeps the whites firm and prevents a rubbery texture. Placing hot or warm eggs in the liquid can cook the whites further and cause uneven results.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, pepper, allspice, clove):

  1. Cinnamonthe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, pepper, allspice, clove. 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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