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Pickled Cucumbers

A method for preserving cucumbers in a brine and vinegar with alum and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Pickled Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Wash cucumbers carefully and place them in jars.

  2. Make a weak brine by dissolving ½ cup of salt in 1.5 gallons of water.

  3. Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers and cover.

  4. Repeat the brining for three mornings, skimming thoroughly each time.

Scald in vinegar

  1. On the fourth day, heat vinegar in a porcelain kettle and add a walnut-sized piece of alum.

  2. When the vinegar is scalding hot, add cucumbers until covered, skimming off as soon as they are scalded.

  3. Add more cucumbers and a small piece of alum each time.

  4. After this process, discard the vinegar and replace it with good cider or white wine vinegar.

  5. Add spices, mustard seed, and red peppers to taste.

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. Cucumber + walnuttop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together380 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Walnut + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked 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 becomes crisp and tangy as it cures and pickles.
Salt
Draws out water and seasons the cucumbers during the brining stage.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Alum
Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp during scalding.

The step that matters

Skimming the brine and scalded vinegar. Skimming removes scum and foam that can spoil the pickles, and removing cucumbers as soon as they are scalded keeps them firm rather than soft.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. 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.

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