Skip to main content
Main

Pickled Onions

Pickled onions preserved in vinegar and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Pickled Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Salt the onions

  1. Scald the onions and sprinkle with salt, layering onions and salt. Let stand for 24 hours.

  2. Drain and wash the onions well, then cover with clear water for 4 hours.

Pickle and seal

  1. Place the onions in a stone jar and fill with pure vinegar. Let stand for 3 days.

  2. Remove the onions from the vinegar and prepare the spice mixture by pounding all spices together until well mixed.

  3. Boil the spice mixture and let it cool until lukewarm, then pour over the onions.

  4. Tie a cloth over the jar to seal it.

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. Allspice + coriandertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together393 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Allspice + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,422 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 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

Silver-skin onions
The vegetable being pickled; salting and rinsing firm it and draw out excess moisture.
Pure vinegar
Acidity that preserves the onions and gives them their sharp, tangy flavour.
Brown sugar
Sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Cloves
Warm, aromatic spice that flavours the pickling liquid.
Allspice
Warm, aromatic spice that adds depth to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Cooling the spiced liquid to lukewarm. Pouring boiling liquid over the onions would heat and soften them, making them limp rather than crisp. Letting it cool to lukewarm keeps their texture firm while the spices still infuse.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, vinegar, sugar, allspice, clove, celery, coriander):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, vinegar, sugar, allspice, clove, celery, coriander. 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.

More pickled onions recipes

and Apples 3and Cucumbers 3 See all 163 →

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipesCelery CroquettesCelery Croquettes16 recipesCelery Cream SoupCelery Cream Soup15 recipes