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American Pickle

This recipe uses saltpetre, which should be handled with care.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

American Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large container, combine 8 quarts of cold spring water, 7 pounds of coarse sea salt, 10 ounces of saltpetre, and 1 pound of treacle.

  2. Mix well and let it stand overnight.

  3. The next day, the brine is ready for preserving pork, beef, or tongues.

  4. For the pickling liquor, in a pot, combine 1 gallon of white wine vinegar, 8 tablespoons of salt, 8 tablespoons of mustard flour, 4 tablespoons of ground ginger, 2 tablespoons of black pepper, 2 tablespoons of allspice, and 2 tablespoons of turmeric.

  5. Boil the mixture for 1 minute.

  6. Mix the mustard flour and turmeric with a little vinegar before adding to the pot.

  7. Once boiled, pour the liquor into a pan and cover it until cool.

  8. Pour the cooled liquor over your selected pickles in glass jars.

  9. Seal the jars with corks and tie them down securely.

  10. Let the jars stand for 6 months before using.

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. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Allspice + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, vinegar, mustard, flour, pepper, allspice, turmeric):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, mustard, flour, pepper, allspice, turmeric. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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