Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pickled Cucumbees
Ingredients
Directions
Brine the cucumbers
Wash cucumbers thoroughly.
Place cucumbers in jars.
Make a weak brine with ½ cup salt and 1½ gallons water.
Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers and cover them.
Repeat the brining process for three mornings, skimming thoroughly each time.
Scald in vinegar
Heat vinegar in a porcelain kettle and add a piece of alum.
Scald cucumbers in the hot vinegar without boiling, then skim off the liquid as soon as they are heated through.
Replace the cucumbers with more cucumbers, adding a small piece of alum each time.
Discard the vinegar and replace it with good cider or white wine vinegar.
Spice and pack
Add spices, mustard seed, and red peppers.
Sort the pickles.
Place them in stone or glass jars and pour the hot spiced vinegar over the pickles.
Seal the jars.
Store them away for later use.
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.
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Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,281 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + walnuttop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together380 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Walnut + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together849 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,991 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Main vegetable that is brined and pickled, becoming firm and tangy.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them during brining.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives them their sharp flavour.
- Alum
- Helps keep the cucumbers firm during scalding.
- Mustard seed
- Adds a pungent, sharp aroma and flavour to the pickles.
- Red peppers
- Adds heat and a warm, pungent flavour to the pickles.
The step that matters
Scalding without boiling. Holding the cucumbers in hot vinegar just below boiling heats them through and firms them. Boiling softens the cell walls, leaving the pickles limp and mushy.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cider, mustard, pepper):
- Chickpeafits better
- Beansfits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cider, mustard, 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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