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To Pickle Gherkins

A method for pickling gherkins in a vinegar and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,152 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

To Pickle Gherkins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gherkins

  1. Gather gherkins on a dry day before frost touches them and remove the blossoms.

  2. Place gherkins in a stone jar and pour boiling brine over them to cover well.

  3. Remove the gherkins the next day.

  4. Wipe the gherkins individually.

  5. Layer the gherkins in a clean stone jar with bay leaves.

Pickle and seal

  1. In a pot, combine vinegar, salt, peppercorns, ginger, and mace; bring to a boil.

  2. Pour the boiling pickle over the gherkins.

  3. Cover with a plate.

  4. Let sit for two days.

  5. Drain the vinegar.

  6. Reheat it until boiling.

  7. Add the gherkins and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

  8. Return the mixture to the jar.

  9. Cover with a plate.

  10. Let it cool completely.

  11. Once cool, tightly cover the jar with a skin or two of thick brown paper.

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. Ginger + macetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,152 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Vinegar + gingertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,126 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  3. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Gherkins
Are the vegetable being pickled, becoming firm and crisp in the brine and vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the gherkins and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the gherkins and seasons the pickling liquid.
Black peppercorns
Add a warm, pungent spice aroma to the pickling liquid.
Ginger
Adds a warm, aromatic flavour that infuses into the pickling liquid.
Bay leaves
Contribute a subtle herbal aroma to the gherkins as they sit in the jar.

The step that matters

Reheating the drained vinegar and simmering the gherkins for only 2-3 minutes. Brief heating lets the gherkins absorb the spiced vinegar while staying crisp. Simmering them too long softens their texture and can make the pickle mushy.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, ginger. 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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