Why it works: Cucumber and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 380 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cucumber Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cucumbers
If cucumbers are tough-skinned, peel and cut into 2‑inch lengths, halving or quartering as needed.
For young cucumbers, boil in water with salt and alum for 15 minutes.
Slice the cucumbers and place them in jars.
Pickle and cover
Prepare a pickle as in recipe No. 138 and let it cool completely before adding to the cucumbers.
Cover the jars with brown paper.
The pickle will be ready in 3 to 4 days.
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 + walnuttop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together380 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Form the main body of the pickle, becoming crisp or softened depending on preparation.
- Salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them, helping them stay firm.
- Alum
- Firms the cucumber tissue so it resists softening during boiling and pickling.
The step that matters
Let the pickle cool completely before adding it to the cucumbers. Hot liquid softens cucumber flesh and cooks it, leading to limp pickles. Cooling first keeps the cucumbers firm and crisp.
“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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