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Sour Pickle

A pickled vegetable mixture preserved in vinegar and spices.

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

Sour Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound half the spices.

  2. Soak the vegetables in strong salt water for three days.

  3. Remove the vegetables, wash them in fresh water, and place them in the vinegar.

  4. If using cabbage, do not wash it; instead, dry it in the sun.

Pickle

  1. Keep the jar in hot sun and stir it every day.

  2. You can add any vegetables suitable for pickling until the jar is full.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that gives the pickle its tang and helps preserve it.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, sharp flavour that stands out in the vinegar.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its yellow colour and a mild, earthy flavour.
Red pepper
Adds heat that builds in the brine over time.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes to the pickling liquid.
Ginger root
Adds a warm, fresh aroma and a gentle bite.

The step that matters

Soaking in strong salt water. Salt draws water out of the vegetables through osmosis, firming them and helping them keep their crunch once they go into the vinegar.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mustard, allspice, clove, ginger, turmeric, pepper. 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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