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To Pickle Gherkins and French Beans

A pickled mixture of gherkins and French beans in a seasoned vinegar brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

To Pickle Gherkins and French Beans

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gherkins

  1. Prepare a brine with 1 gallon of water and 2 pounds of coarse sea salt; mix well.

  2. Add the gherkins to the brine and let them soak for 2 hours.

  3. Drain the gherkins and let them dry before placing them in a jar.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In a pot, combine 1 gallon of white wine vinegar, cloves, mace, allspice, mustard seed, horseradish, bay leaves, dill, ginger, nutmeg, and salt; bring to a boil.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over the gherkins in the jar and cover tightly.

Cure and store

  1. Let the gherkins sit for 24 hours, then simmer them on the stove until they turn green, being careful not to boil.

  2. Once done, place them back in the jar, cover tightly, and allow to cool.

  3. Seal the jar with a bladder and leather, and store in a cool, 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. Mustard + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Horseradish + dilltop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together134 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Mustard + dilltop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together560 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Gherkins
Are the main vegetable being preserved, providing the crisp texture and tangy flavour of the finished pickle.
White wine vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the gherkins and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the gherkins during the brine soak, firming their texture before pickling.
Cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, slightly bitter spice note that complements the vinegar.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Simmering the gherkins without boiling. Simmering gently lets the gherkins change colour and soften slightly while keeping their structure. Boiling would make the skins split and the flesh go mushy and limp.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, vinegar, clove, allspice, mustard, horseradish, dill):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, clove, allspice, mustard, horseradish, dill. 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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