Skip to main content
Main

Spanish Pickles

Pickled cucumbers seasoned with spices, mustard, onions, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Spanish Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Layer and cover

  1. Layer cucumbers in a container, about a finger-length deep.

  2. Sprinkle 1 oz of each spice and 1 handful of salt between layers.

  3. Add sliced onions and mustard to the layers.

  4. Pour strong cold vinegar over the cucumbers.

Stir and boil

  1. Stir the mixture frequently.

  2. Boil for two hours during warm weather after mixing.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Turmeric + cinnamontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,197 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 provide the crisp, firm texture.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickle.
Onions
Add savory flavour and body to the pickle mixture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Mustard seed
Contributes pungent, sharp flavour as the seeds soften in the vinegar.

The step that matters

Boil for two hours during warm weather after mixing. Heating the pickle mixture helps the flavours meld and reduces spoilage risk, while prolonged boiling can soften cucumbers too much. Keep the timing in mind and watch for the mixture to become tender without collapsing.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, mace, turmeric, clove, cinnamon, celery, ginger):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, mace, turmeric, clove, cinnamon, celery, ginger. 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.

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipesCelery CroquettesCelery Croquettes16 recipesCelery Cream SoupCelery Cream Soup15 recipes