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Spiced Vinegar for Pickles

A vinegar-based brine flavored with sugar, spices, and horseradish for pickling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Spiced Vinegar for Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the spiced vinegar

  1. In a large pot, combine the vinegar and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

  2. Add allspice, mustard seed, celery seed, coarse sea salt, turmeric powder, black pepper, mace, grated nutmegs, chopped onions, and grated horseradish.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cool

  1. Let the spiced vinegar cool before using it for pickling.

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 + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Allspice + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the liquid and sharpens the pickling flavour.
Sugar
Balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar with sweetness.
Mustard seed
Contributes a sharp, pungent aroma and flavour when simmered.
Onions
Adds savoury depth and aroma as they soften into the liquid.
Horseradish
Adds a pungent, sharp heat that carries into the spiced vinegar.

The step that matters

Let the spiced vinegar cool before using it for pickling. Hot liquid poured over cucumbers or other vegetables would soften them and can cook them unevenly. Cooling lets the vinegar stay at a safe, gentle temperature for the vegetables before pickling.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, allspice, mustard, celery, turmeric, pepper):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, allspice, mustard, celery, turmeric, 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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