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German Pickles

A pickled cucumber preparation using salt, spices, vinegar, and alum, then stewed and preserved.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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 ↓

German Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Brine the pickles

  1. Wash the pickles thoroughly and dry them with a coarse towel.

  2. Place the pickles in a stone jar and cover them thickly with coarse sea salt.

  3. Leave the pickles in the jar for one day.

  4. Add mustard seed, cloves, bay leaves, whole allspice, and enough water to cover the pickles.

  5. Place a board over the pickles and weigh it down with a heavy stone.

  6. Leave the pickles in the brine for one week to one month, stirring every few days.

  7. When ready, pour away the brine and discard any soft pickles.

Freshen and green

  1. Soak the remaining pickles in cold fresh water for 24 hours, changing the water after one day.

  2. Prepare a kettle lined with cabbage or vine leaves and place the pickles inside.

  3. Sprinkle the pickles with pounded alum and fill the kettle with cold water.

  4. Steam the pickles slowly for six hours without boiling.

  5. Once the pickles are a fine green, remove the leaves and place the cucumbers in very cold water.

Pickle with vinegar

  1. In a separate pot, combine vinegar, sugar, black peppers, cloves, allspice, and blades of mace.

  2. Boil the mixture for five minutes.

  3. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers in a stone jar and cover tightly.

  4. Let the pickles sit for two days.

  5. Scald the vinegar again and pour it over the pickles.

  6. Repeat this process every four to six days.

  7. Store the pickles in a cool, dry place.

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  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

Pickles
The cucumbers themselves, which are firmed, salted and greened before being pickled in vinegar.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and preserves them during the brine stage.
Alum
Helps the pickles stay firm and crisp during steaming.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the pickles and gives them their sharp flavour.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.

The step that matters

Steaming without boiling. Steaming slowly for six hours at a temperature below boiling keeps the pickles firm and green. Boiling would soften the cucumber flesh and turn the colour dull.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, clove, allspice, egg, vinegar, sugar, 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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