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 ↓
Pickled Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
Brine the cucumbers
Wash cucumbers carefully.
Place cucumbers in jars.
Make a weak brine by dissolving a handful of salt in 1½ gallons of water.
Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers.
Cover the cucumbers.
Repeat this for three mornings.
Skim thoroughly each time.
Scald in vinegar
On the fourth day, heat vinegar in a porcelain kettle.
Add a piece of alum to the vinegar.
When the vinegar is scalding hot, add cucumbers until covered.
Do not let them boil.
Skim off as soon as scalded.
Replace with more cucumbers.
Add a small piece of alum each time.
After this process, discard the vinegar.
Replace it with good cider or white wine vinegar.
Add spices, mustard seed, and red peppers.
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.
-
Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,281 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cucumber + walnuttop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together380 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
-
Walnut + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together849 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
- Cucumbers
- Main vegetable that is preserved and becomes crisp-tender when pickled.
- Vinegar
- Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives them their sharp flavour.
- Salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons the brine, firming their texture.
- Alum
- Hardens the cucumber tissue so they stay firm through the hot vinegar treatment.
The step that matters
Keep the vinegar below a boil. Boiling the vinegar makes the cucumbers soften and go limp, so the vinegar should only be scalding hot and skimmed as it reaches that point.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, vinegar, mustard, pepper):
- Lentilsfits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Sesamefits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar, mustard, 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.
More pickled cucumbers recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.