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Spanish Pickle

A fermented mixture of cucumbers, cabbage, onions, peppers, and spices boiled in vinegar and sealed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Spanish Pickle

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 ↓

Spanish Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. If cucumbers are fresh, soak them in brine for 4–5 days; if salted, soak in water for 24 hours.

  2. Soak chopped cabbage in coarse sea salt for 8 hours.

  3. Soak green pepper pods in salt water.

  4. Squeeze all ingredients to remove excess moisture.

Pack and cook

  1. Layer the cucumbers, cabbage, onions, and peppers in a kettle, alternating with seasoning.

  2. Mix seasoning with vinegar and add to the kettle.

  3. Boil for 30 minutes or until thickened, then bottle tightly.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  5. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the bulk of the pickle and give it crisp, firm texture when properly brined.
Cabbage
Adds crunch and bulk, and salting draws out water so the pickle stays firm.
White mustard seed
Provides sharp, pungent flavour that mellows during the long cooking.
White sugar
Balances the sharp vinegar and salt with sweetness.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its tang.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its yellow colour and a mild, earthy aroma.

The step that matters

Squeeze the vegetables before packing. Salted vegetables hold excess water that dilutes the vinegar and seasoning and softens the pickle. Squeezing removes this moisture so the final pickle stays firm and the brine is not watered down.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cabbage, pepper, mustard, celery, turmeric, sugar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cabbage, pepper, mustard, celery, turmeric, 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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