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Fresh Cucumber Pickles

Pickled cucumbers preserved in boiling water, salt, cider vinegar, and horseradish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 640 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fresh Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Place the cucumbers in a stone crock.

  2. Pour boiling water over the cucumbers to cover them.

  3. Add a large handful of salt.

  4. Let them stand overnight.

  5. In the morning, drain off the water.

  6. Pour more boiling water over the cucumbers.

  7. Add the same quantity of salt.

  8. Let them stand until the next morning.

  9. Drain off the water.

Finish and pack

  1. Wash the pickles in clear water.

  2. Dry the pickles with a towel.

  3. Put the pickles back in the crock.

  4. Pour boiling cider vinegar over the pickles.

  5. Add small horseradish roots to the crock.

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. Cucumber + horseradishtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together640 recipes

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

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cucumber + cidertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together572 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
Provide the main body of the pickle, which firms and crisps during brining.
Salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them, firming their texture over the two brining days.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp, tangy flavour.
Horseradish roots
Adds a sharp, pungent aroma and flavour to the pickles.

The step that matters

Draining and re-salting the cucumbers. Each brine must be fully drained before the next salt addition, so the cucumbers are not left in water that dilutes the salt. Consistent salt concentration is what draws out moisture and firms the cucumbers, so the timing and draining matter.

Swap the horseradish

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cider, vinegar):

  1. Radishfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Horseradishthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cider, 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.

More cucumber pickles recipes

Sweet 23Green 9Spiced 9Small 7Sliced 6Sour 5 See all 334 →

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