Name: To Pickle Gherkins
Ingredients: Gherkins; ½ cup coarse sea salt; Vinegar; Cloves; Jamaica peppercorns; Mace

Why it works: Clove and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

To Pickle Gherkins

Ingredients

Directions

Put gherkins in a coarse cloth with salt and shake to remove outer skin.
Place gherkins in a pan.
Boil enough vinegar to cover gherkins with cloves, peppercorns, and mace.
Pour the hot vinegar over the gherkins.
Boil the vinegar again twice, pouring it over the gherkins after each boil.
Once cold, transfer gherkins to jars and cover with bladders.
Store in a cool 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.

Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,386 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,415 recipes