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Hard Pickles

A mixture of various vegetables pickled in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Hard Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Break cauliflower into small pieces.

  2. Choose small Brussels sprouts and remove the outer leaves.

  3. Cut celery into short lengths.

  4. Cut small carrots into pieces.

  5. Use small French beans.

  6. Use only the tips of asparagus.

  7. Use only the centers of artichokes.

  8. Add a few young ears of maize.

  9. Shred a little red cabbage very fine.

  10. Add a few small green oranges.

  11. Add a few green apricots, thinnings from the trees.

  12. Use only young nasturtium seeds.

  13. Add fresh or pickled capers.

  14. Cut large gherkins into pieces.

  15. Use very small young vegetable marrow.

  16. Add red and green capsicums and hot peppers.

Pack and pickle

  1. Put all these in a large earthen jar and pour the prepared vinegar over them. Stir with a wooden spoon.

  2. Close the jar tightly.

  3. Let it stand in the sun for a few days.

  4. Keep for some months before using.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Asparagus + artichoketop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Cauliflower + artichoketop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together70 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Cauliflower + asparagustop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together163 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Beans + asparagustop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together292 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

Prepared vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Cauliflower
Forms the firm, crisp body of the pickle that holds its texture in the brine.
Gherkins
Add firm texture and a tangy, briny flavour as they soften slowly in the vinegar.
Hot peppers
Contribute heat and pungency that deepens as the pickle matures.
Red cabbage
Adds crunch and colour, and its fine shreds take up the vinegar quickly.
Capers
Add a sharp, salty bite that complements the acidic vinegar.

The step that matters

Close the jar tightly and let it stand in the sun. Vinegar must cover the vegetables and the jar must be sealed so the acidic brine preserves them. Air exposure can allow spoilage, so a tight seal helps the pickle keep through the months of maturing.

Swap the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, celery, carrot, beans, asparagus, artichoke, cabbage):

  1. Turnipfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, celery, carrot, beans, asparagus, artichoke, cabbage. 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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