Name: To Pickle Gherkins
Ingredients: gherkins; boiling water; boiling vinegar; small silver onions; coarse sea salt; whole pepper

Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Pickle Gherkins

Ingredients

Directions

Brush or wipe the gherkins clean.
Boil the gherkins in plenty of fast-boiling water for 1 minute.
Quickly transfer them to a large bowl of very cold water and change the water once.
Once the gherkins are cold, drain them well and spread them on sieves or dishes to air dry.
Place the dried gherkins in stone jars and pour boiling vinegar over them to cover.
Heat the vinegar again and pour it over the gherkins the next day.
On the following day, add the gherkins to the boiling vinegar for 1 minute along with small silver onions, coarse sea salt, and whole pepper.

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.

Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

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