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Beetroot Pickle

A pickled beetroot preserved in a spiced vinegar brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beetroot and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Beetroot Pickle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beetroot

  1. Wash the beetroots well, being careful not to break the skins.

  2. Bake the beetroots in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 to 1.5 hours.

  3. When cool enough to handle, remove the skins and cut the beetroots into ¼-inch slices.

  4. Place the slices in jars.

Make the pickling liquor

  1. Boil the vinegar, horseradish, pepper, and allspice together.

  2. Let the mixture cool completely.

Pickle and store

  1. Pour the cooled mixture over the beetroot in the jars.

  2. Cover the jars tightly with parchment paper coated on both sides with egg white.

  3. Store in a cool, dry place until needed.

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. Beetroot + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Allspice + horseradishtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together654 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Beetroot + allspicetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together79 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pepper + horseradishtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beetroots
Form the main body of the pickle and supply the sweet, earthy flavour and deep colour.
Malt vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the beetroot and gives the pickle its sharp taste.
Whole black pepper
Adds warm, pungent aroma and spice to the pickling liquor.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes that flavour the vinegar.
Horseradish
Adds sharp, pungent heat that balances the sweetness of the beetroot.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool completely before pouring it over the beetroot. Pouring hot liquor onto the slices would partly cook them, softening their texture and affecting how well they hold their shape and colour in the jar.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beetroot, malt, vinegar, pepper, horseradish):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beetroot, malt, vinegar, pepper, horseradish. 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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