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Universal Pickle

A pickled vegetable mixture using vinegar, salt, sugar, spices, and optional mustard and horseradish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice 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 ↓

Universal Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the brine

  1. In a large container, mix together the vinegar, salt, brown sugar, cloves, allspice, mace, ground ginger, white mustard seed, black pepper, and turmeric.

  2. If desired, add the mustard and horseradish.

Pickle

  1. Ensure your vegetables are perfectly dry and drop them into the mixture as you gather them.

  2. Set the jar in the sun for a few days and stir the mixture frequently.

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Salt
Draws moisture out of the vegetables and helps keep the pickle firm and seasoned.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
White mustard seed
Contributes pungent, earthy flavour that develops as the brine steeps.
Sliced onions
The main vegetable, absorbing the spiced brine as it pickles.

The step that matters

Dry the vegetables thoroughly. Water on the vegetables dilutes the vinegar brine, lowering its acidity and weakening its preserving effect, and can encourage spoilage. Patting the onions fully dry before they go in keeps the brine strong.

Swap the mustard

The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, clove, allspice, mace, ginger, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Mustardthe original
  4. Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, clove, allspice, mace, ginger, 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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