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To Pickle Gherkins

A method for pickling small cucumbers or gherkins using vinegar, salt, alum, and cabbage leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and cabbage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 722 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Pickle Gherkins

six to eight dozen gherkins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Gather small cucumbers or gherkins on a dry day.

  2. Soak them in cold salt-and-water for four days, placing a cabbage leaf on top to keep them submerged.

Scald and steep

  1. Drain the cucumbers and place them in a clean brass pan lined with vine or cabbage leaves.

  2. Cover with equal parts vinegar and water, adding a little pounded alum and more leaves on top.

  3. Heat the mixture until scalding hot, then remove from heat.

  4. When nearly cool, reheat the mixture.

  5. Repeat this process throughout the day.

  6. At night, place the cucumbers in a basin with fresh leaves and the same liquid to soak overnight.

  7. The next morning, heat the cucumbers twice with fresh leaves and the same liquid, then drain them.

Finish

  1. For six to eight dozen gherkins, add half a pint of vinegar and enough water to cover them, along with some salt.

  2. Scald them as before.

  3. Drain and pour boiling water over them.

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. Cucumber + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 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

Cucumbers or gherkins
Form the body of the pickle, and their firmness determines how crisp the finished gherkins are.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp, sour flavor.
Pounded alum
Helps keep the cucumbers firm through repeated heating.

The step that matters

Scald, don't boil hard. Heat the mixture only until it is scalding, then let it cool before reheating. Repeated gentle heating lets the brine penetrate without cooking the cucumbers to mush. Vigorous boiling softens the flesh and can leave the pickles limp.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Radishfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, vinegar. 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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