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Pickled Asparagus

A pickled asparagus preserved in vinegar, salt, spices, and hot brine.

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 ↓

Pickled Asparagus

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pickle

  1. Scald the asparagus.

  2. Let the asparagus cool on a cloth.

  3. Boil the vinegar with the coarse sea salt.

Pickle

  1. Place the asparagus in a jar.

  2. Pour the hot pickle over the asparagus.

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

  4. After a week, boil the pickle again.

  5. Pour the hot pickle over the asparagus.

  6. Let it cool.

  7. Cover tightly and store in a dry 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.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Nutmeg + asparagustop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Nutmeg + white peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

White wine vinegar
Provides the acid that preserves the asparagus and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the pickle and helps draw out moisture and flavor from the asparagus.
Asparagus
The vegetable being pickled; it becomes firm and tangy as it soaks in the brine.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavor to the pickle.
Whole white pepper
Adds a mild, sharp spice note to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Reboiling the pickle after a week. The hot pickle must be brought back to a boil before it is poured over the asparagus again, so the liquid is hot enough to help keep the vegetables preserved. Boiling also dissolves and distributes the salt and spices evenly.

Swap the asparagus

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, nutmeg, mace, white 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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