Skip to main content
Main

I Pickles* Gherkins.

A method for pickling gherkins in a spiced vinegar brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Mustard and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

I Pickles* Gherkins.

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Dissolve 1 lb coarse sea salt in 2 quarts water in an earthenware jar and add the gherkins.

  2. Let the gherkins soak for 2 hours, then drain them on a sieve and let them dry completely.

Pickle

  1. In a pot, boil 2 quarts white vinegar with 1/2 oz cloves, 1/4 oz mace, 1/2 oz allspice, 2 oz ginger, 1/4 oz mustard seed, 1/2 stick horseradish, 3 bay leaves, 1/2 nutmeg, and a little salt.

  2. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the gherkins, cover the jar tightly, and let it sit for 24 hours.

  3. Place the jar in a stewpan and simmer on low heat until the gherkins turn green, ensuring they do not boil.

  4. Transfer the gherkins to jars or wide-mouthed bottles, cover them, and let them cool.

  5. Seal the jars with corks tied with leather and store in a dry place.

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 + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Gherkins (in the method)
Are the main food being preserved; brining firms and prepares them to take up the vinegar.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the gherkins during the brine, firming them and seasoning the pickle.
White vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the gherkins and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
Ginger
Adds aromatic warmth and pungency to the pickling liquid.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice flavor to the pickling liquid.
Mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent spice note to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Keep the gherkins below a boil when they turn green. Gentle simmering lets the gherkins color and soften while keeping their texture intact. Boiling makes them mushy and can break down their structure.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, clove, allspice, ginger, mustard, horseradish, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, clove, allspice, ginger, mustard, horseradish, nutmeg. 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.

You might also like

Horseradish SauceHorseradish Sauce17 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes