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Gherkins, or Young Cucumbers

A pickled cucumber recipe using brine, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Gherkins, or Young Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Brine the cucumbers

  1. Select young cucumbers the size of a finger and place them in unglazed stone jars.

  2. Dissolve ¼ pound of coarse sea salt in 1 quart of boiling water and let it cool.

  3. Cover the cucumbers with the brine and set the jars on the hearth for 2-3 days until they turn yellow.

  4. Pour off the brine.

  5. Drain the cucumbers.

Green and spice

  1. Scald and dry the jar.

  2. Return the cucumbers to the jar and cover them with vinegar.

  3. Set the jar again before the fire for 8-10 days until the cucumbers turn green.

  4. Pour off the vinegar.

  5. Prepare a new pickle with fresh vinegar and the spices.

  6. Add 2 ounces of black pepper, 1 ounce of ginger, 1 ounce of salt, ½ teaspoon of cayenne, and 1 ounce of mustard seeds to the vinegar.

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. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Vinegar + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 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
Young cucumbers are the base that softens and takes on the pickle flavour and colour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them in the brine.
Vinegar
Acidity preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, warm pungency to the pickling liquid.
Mustard seeds
Add a sharp, pungent flavour to the vinegar.

The step that matters

Pouring off the brine before the vinegar stage. Cucumbers must be fully drained and the jar scalded and dried before vinegar is added. Leftover brine dilutes the vinegar and can spoil the pickle, so the jar and cucumbers need to be as dry as possible.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, cucumber, pepper, mustard):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, cucumber, pepper, mustard. 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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