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Pickled Gerkins

Pickled gherkins are cucumbers preserved in vinegar, wine spirits, salt, spices, and tarragon leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and tarragon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,547 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pickled Gerkins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and salt

  1. Wash the gherkins and cut off their ends.

  2. Place the gherkins in a cloth and mix with 4 handfuls of fine salt.

  3. Shake the cloth and hang it in a cool place with a vessel underneath.

  4. After 12 hours, add 2 more handfuls of salt and repeat after another 12 hours.

Pickle

  1. The next day, place the gherkins in jugs and cover them with raw vinegar and spirits of wine.

  2. Add spices and tarragon leaves.

Rest

  1. Let the gherkins sit for 3 weeks before eating.

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 + tarragontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together701 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Vinegar + winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,493 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Wine + tarragontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together521 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Vinegar + spirittop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together125 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Gherkins (in the method)
Form the main body of the pickle, becoming firmer and crisper once salted and drained.
Fine salt
Draws out moisture from the gherkins, firming their texture and helping preserve them.
Raw vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the gherkins in the jugs.
Tarragon leaves
Add a distinct herbal aroma to the pickled gherkins.

The step that matters

Salting and draining in the cloth. Salt draws water out of the gherkins over the first two days. Skimping on salt or skipping the repeat salting leaves more water inside, so the pickle turns soft and dilutes the brine.

Swap the tarragon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, spirit, wine):

  1. Rosemaryfits better
  2. Peppermintfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Tarragonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, spirit, wine. 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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