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Gherkins, or Young Cucumbers

A pickled cucumber recipe using brine, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Gherkins, or Young Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Put the cucumbers in unglazed stone jars.

  2. Dissolve the salt in boiling water. Let the brine cool, then cover the cucumbers with it.

  3. Cover the jars and place them by the fire for 2–3 days until they turn yellow.

  4. Drain the cucumbers.

Vinegar and finish

  1. Scald and dry the jar.

  2. Return the cucumbers to the jar and cover them with vinegar.

  3. Place the jar back by the fire for 8–10 days until the cucumbers turn green.

  4. Drain the vinegar.

  5. Prepare a new pickling vinegar with the spices. Pour the fresh vinegar over the cucumbers.

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. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Young cucumbers
Provide the main body and crisp texture of the pickle.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them during brining.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, aromatic heat to the pickling liquid.
Mustard seeds
Contribute pungent flavour to the pickling vinegar.

The step that matters

Standing by the fire until the colour changes. The colour change from yellow to green marks the stage of the process; leaving the jars too short or too long alters how the cucumbers firm and taste, so timing must be watched closely.

Swap the ginger

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar, pepper, mustard. 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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