Why it works: Cucumber and radish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 212 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the cucumbers
Wash the cucumbers and soak them in a moderately salty brine for 24 hours.
Remove the cucumbers from the brine and wash them in cold water.
Place the cucumbers in a large kettle and cover with cold water.
Add the alum and bring the water to a boil.
Drain the cucumbers and transfer them to crocks or bottles.
Make the pickling liquid
Dilute the strong vinegar with water (one-third vinegar) and sweeten to taste.
Add the mixed spices to the vinegar mixture and heat until very hot.
Pack and seal
Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers until they are fully covered.
Add several small pieces of horse-radish roots to the jars.
Seal the jars for long-term storage.
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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Cucumber + radishtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together212 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Horse + radishtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together529 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
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Cucumber + butternuttop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Butternut + radishtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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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
- Small green cucumbers
- Form the main body of the pickle, becoming crisp and firm once brined and preserved.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers and helps preserve them during the brine soak.
- Alum
- Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp during boiling and pickling.
- Strong vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar, adding sweetness to taste.
- Horse-radish roots
- Adds a pungent, sharp aroma and flavour to the pickled cucumbers.
The step that matters
Heating the alum water and draining before packing. Alum firms the cucumber skins, but boiling too long can soften them. Draining well before packing keeps excess water from diluting the vinegar mixture.
Swap the butternut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, vinegar, sugar, pepper, horse, radish):
- Beansfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Butternutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar, sugar, pepper, horse, radish. 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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