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To Pickle Cucumbers

A method for pickling small cucumbers using a brine, vinegar, and spices, finished in a stone jar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Pickle Cucumbers

Ingredients

Directions

Brine and yellow the cucumbers

  1. Make a brine with salt and water strong enough to float an egg.

  2. Pour the brine over the cucumbers.

  3. Cover the cucumbers with fresh cabbage leaves.

  4. Let them stand for a week, stirring twice daily until they turn yellow.

  5. Pour off the water.

Green the cucumbers

  1. Line a porcelain kettle with fresh vine leaves.

  2. Add the cucumbers and a small piece of alum to the kettle.

  3. Cover them with more vine leaves and a cloth.

  4. Fill the kettle with clear water.

  5. Place the kettle over moderate heat after dinner.

  6. Keep the water warm but not boiling until the next morning.

  7. If the cucumbers are not a fine green, repeat the process.

  8. Once green, drain the cucumbers.

Pickle and pack

  1. Place the cucumbers in a clean stone jar.

  2. Boil enough vinegar to cover the cucumbers, adding a muslin bag with cloves, mace, and mustard seed.

  3. Pour the hot vinegar over the cucumbers.

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 + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  2. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Very small cucumbers
The main vegetable, which becomes firm and crisp once pickled.
Salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and seasons them during the brine stage.
Best vinegar
Provides the sour acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its flavour.
A small piece of alum
Helps the cucumbers stay firm and crisp during the greening stage.
Cloves
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling vinegar.
Mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour to the pickling vinegar.

The step that matters

Keeping the water warm but not boiling. Boiling water would soften the cucumbers and break down their texture, while water that is too cool will not let them take on a fine green colour.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cabbage, vinegar, clove, mustard. 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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