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To Pickle Beet-root

A preserved beetroot sliced and pickled in vinegar with salt, cayenne, and white peppercorns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Pickle Beet-root

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beetroot

  1. Boil the beet-root until tender.

  2. Let the beet-root cool completely.

  3. Peel and slice the beet-root.

Pickle

  1. Place the slices in a jar and cover with boiled vinegar that has cooled.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt and cayenne pepper tied in muslin or whole white peppercorns.

  3. Seal the jar and let it sit until ready to use.

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. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beet-root
Forms the main body of the dish and gives it its colour and earthy sweetness.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the beetroot and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.

The step that matters

Let the beetroot cool completely before adding the vinegar. Pouring hot vinegar onto the slices can soften them and cause them to lose texture and colour. Cooling the beetroot and vinegar first keeps the slices firm and the pickle clean-tasting.

“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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