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To Pickle Gherkins

A method for pickling gherkins in a brine and vinegar solution with spices.

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

To Pickle Gherkins

Ingredients

Directions

Brine the gherkins

  1. Prepare a large earthen pan with spring water and salt, mixing 2 pounds of salt into 1 gallon of water.

  2. Add the gherkins to the saltwater and let them soak for 2 hours.

  3. Drain the gherkins thoroughly and place them in a jar.

Make and pour the spiced vinegar

  1. In a bell‑metal kettle, combine 1 gallon of vinegar, cloves, mace, allspice, mustard seed, horseradish, bay leaves, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then pour it over the gherkins.

  3. Cover the jar tightly and let it sit for 24 hours.

Finish and store

  1. Simmer the gherkins in the kettle until they turn green, being careful not to let them boil.

  2. Transfer the gherkins back to the jar and cover tightly until cool.

  3. Seal the jar with a bladder and leather, and store in a cold, dry place.

  4. Always keep the pickles tightly sealed and use a wooden spoon to remove them.

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. Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Gherkins
Are the vegetable being pickled, so their texture and firmness set the final result.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the gherkins and seasons them during the initial brine.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the gherkins and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Cloves
Adds warm aromatic spice that flavours the pickling liquid.
Mustard seed
Contributes a pungent, sharp aroma to the pickling liquid.
Horseradish
Adds pungent heat that deepens the sharpness of the spiced vinegar.

The step that matters

Simmer the gherkins without boiling. Boiling can soften the gherkins and break up their structure, while gentle simmering lets them turn green and keep a firm bite.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, clove, allspice, mustard, horseradish, ginger, nutmeg. 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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