Skip to main content
Main

Pickled Cauliflower

A preserved cauliflower dish pickled in a vinegar and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pickled Cauliflower

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Break the cauliflower heads into small pieces.

  2. Boil in salted water for 10-15 minutes.

  3. Drain and let cool, then place in a jar.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In hot vinegar, scald whole cloves, pepper, allspice, and white mustard.

  2. Tie the spices in a bag.

  3. Remove vinegar from heat and stir in 2 teaspoons of French mustard and ½ cup of white sugar per quart.

Pickle and seal

  1. Pour the vinegar over the cauliflower, ensuring it is fully covered.

  2. Cover the jar tightly.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cauliflower + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 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

Cauliflower
Provides the firm, crisp vegetable body that holds its texture in the brine.
Vinegar
Supplies the acidity that gives the pickle its sharp, tangy flavour.
White sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Whole cloves
Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes to the pickling liquid.
Allspice
Adds aromatic, warm spice flavour that infuses into the vinegar.
French mustard
Adds pungent, sharp flavour that deepens the taste of the brine.

The step that matters

Fully covering the cauliflower with vinegar. Pieces left above the liquid can spoil and soften unevenly, while submerged pieces stay evenly acidic and firm. Keeping everything under the vinegar protects the texture and keeps the pickle consistent.

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, clove, pepper, allspice, mustard, sugar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, clove, pepper, allspice, mustard, sugar. 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.

More pickled cauliflower recipes

Spiced 3 See all 97 →

You might also like

Cauliflower SoupCauliflower Soup28 recipesCream of Cauliflower SoupCream of Cauliflower Soup22 recipesCreamed CauliflowerCreamed Cauliflower17 recipesEscalloped CauliflowerEscalloped Cauliflower9 recipes