Name: Cucumber Pickles
Ingredients: 1 gallon vinegar; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup coarse sea salt; 1 cup ground mustard

Why it works: Vinegar and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

1 gallon vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 cup coarse sea salt
1 cup ground mustard

Directions

Mix the vinegar, sugar, coarse sea salt, and ground mustard in a large bowl until well combined.
Pour the mixture over the pickles, ensuring they are fully covered.
This recipe will cover 3 gallons of pickles.
Do not soak the pickles in salt water.

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.

Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + mustardtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,424 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).