Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Pickled Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
Brine the cucumbers
Wash cucumbers thoroughly.
Make a brine with salt and water strong enough to float an egg.
Pour the brine over the cucumbers.
Place a weight on top to keep cucumbers submerged.
Let the cucumbers sit for nine days.
Remove the cucumbers and rinse them in fresh water.
Scald and pack
Line the bottom of a kettle with green cabbage leaves.
Add the cucumbers to the kettle.
Cover the cucumbers with equal parts cider vinegar and water.
Top with another layer of cabbage leaves.
Heat over a slow fire until hot, but do not simmer.
Once the cucumbers are perfectly green, remove them from the heat.
Let the cucumbers drain.
Wipe the cucumbers dry.
Pack the cucumbers into jars with allspice, cloves, and onions or garlic.
Add a piece of alum to each jar to keep them firm.
Cover the jars with cider vinegar.
Seal the jars.
Store the jars in a cool, dry place.
Finish
For added flavor, mix in one tablespoon of sugar.
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.
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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
-
Cucumber + allspicetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together501 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
-
Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 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
- The main vegetable, which softens and pickles in the brine and vinegar.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers during the brining and helps firm them.
- Cider vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sour flavor.
- Alum
- Helps keep the cucumbers firm during pickling.
- Small onions or garlic cloves
- Add aromatic flavor that infuses into the pickled cucumbers.
The step that matters
Heat without simmering. Heating just below a simmer softens the cucumbers and sets their color while keeping them firm. Boiling would turn them soft and mushy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cider, vinegar, allspice, clove, sugar):
- Mustardfits better
- Radishfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cider, vinegar, allspice, clove, 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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