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Pickling, &C

Pickled asparagus spears preserved in a vinegar and water brine with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pickling, &C

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the asparagus

  1. Scald the asparagus and remove them with a broad skimmer.

  2. Lay the asparagus on a cloth to cool.

Pickle

  1. In a pot, combine vinegar, spring water, and coarse sea salt; let it boil.

  2. Place the asparagus in a jar and pour the hot pickle over them.

  3. Cover with a linen cloth folded three or four times.

  4. Let them stand for a week.

  5. Boil the pickle again and let it stand for another week.

  6. Boil the pickle once more and pour it hot over the asparagus.

  7. When cooled, cover tightly with bladder and leather.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the asparagus and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the pickle and helps draw out moisture and preserve the asparagus.
Asparagus (in the method)
The vegetable being pickled; it softens slightly and takes on the sour, salty flavour of the brine.

The step that matters

Boiling the pickle and pouring it hot over the asparagus. Heating the brine helps drive off air and dissolve the salt, and pouring it hot over the asparagus helps it penetrate and keep the vegetable from spoiling. Letting it stand between boilings lets the flavour develop.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, nutmeg, pepper. 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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