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Bottled Pickles

A method for preserving small cucumbers in bottled vinegar with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Horseradish and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Bottled Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Wash and wipe small cucumbers, then place them in a stone jar and cover with salt.

  2. Pour boiling water over the cucumbers to cover them completely.

Prepare the spices and vinegar

  1. Heat 1 gallon of cider vinegar in a kettle and add ½ pint of brown sugar.

  2. Sprinkle sliced green and red peppers, horseradish roots, and mustard seeds with salt.

  3. Pour boiling water over the spices, let them stand for 15 minutes, then drain.

Pack and seal

  1. When the pickles reach boiling point, pack them into bottles with layers of spices.

  2. Cover the pickles with the hot vinegar, ensuring they are completely submerged.

  3. Seal the bottles with snug-fitting corks, dipping the cork ends in hot sealing wax for security.

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. Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Cucumber + horseradishtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together640 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Horseradish + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together515 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Small cucumbers
The main vegetable, which the salt and brine turn into firm, sour pickles.
Cider vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their tang.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Horseradish roots
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that carries through the pickling liquid.
Green and red peppers
Add fresh, mild sweetness and colour to the layers of pickles.
Alum
Helps keep the cucumber tissue firm during pickling.

The step that matters

Cover the pickles with the hot vinegar, ensuring they are completely submerged.. Pieces left above the liquid are exposed to air and can spoil or mould. Full submersion in acidic vinegar keeps the pickles safe and crisp.

“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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