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To Pickle Gherkins

A method for pickling gherkins using a brine and vinegar solution.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 2,152 recipes mention both. 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.

  2. Remove blossoms from the gherkins.

  3. Place gherkins in a stone jar and cover with boiling brine made from 6 ounces of salt and 1 quart of water.

  4. The next day, wipe each gherkin and layer them in a clean stone jar with a dozen bay leaves.

Make and pour the pickle

  1. Prepare the pickle by boiling 1 quart of vinegar with 1¼ ounces of salt, ¼ ounce of black peppercorns, 1½ ounces of sliced ginger, and 2 small blades of mace.

  2. Pour the boiling pickle over the gherkins.

  3. Cover with a plate and let sit for two days.

Scald and seal

  1. Drain the vinegar.

  2. Reheat it until boiling.

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

  4. Pour everything back into the jar.

  5. Cover again and let cool completely.

  6. Once cool, tightly seal the jar with 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Ginger + macetop 11% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together2,152 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + gingertop 19% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together5,126 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  3. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned 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 preserved, becoming firm and crisp as they cure in brine and vinegar.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the gherkins during brining and seasons the pickle.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the gherkins and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Bay leaves
Add a subtle aromatic, herbal flavour to the gherkins.

The step that matters

Scalding the gherkins in the boiling vinegar. Simmering only 2-3 minutes is brief; overcooking softens the gherkins, while the hot vinegar must be fully boiling so the pickle is hot enough to help preserve and seal the jar.

Flavor stand-ins for the mace

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

  1. Allspicebetter flavor fit
  2. Clovebetter flavor fit
  3. Turmericbetter flavor fit
  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. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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