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Oil Cucumber Pickles

Cucumbers pickled in oil with spices, onions, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Oil Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and slice the cucumbers without peeling them.

Salt and drain

  1. Mix the sliced cucumbers with the chopped onion and salt, and let it stand overnight.

  2. Drain the mixture after three hours.

Dress and pack

  1. Mix the olive oil, mustard seed, celery seed, black pepper, and dissolved alum thoroughly.

  2. Stir the dressing into the cucumbers and onion.

  3. Pack the mixture into cans and cover with cold vinegar, then seal.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the bulk of the pickle and give it its crisp, juicy body.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers and onion, firming the texture and seasoning them.
Onion
Adds sharp, savoury flavour and moisture to the pickle.
Olive oil
Carries the spices and adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Mustard seed
Adds pungent, sharp flavour that deepens as the pickle sits.
Cold vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the pickle.

The step that matters

Draining after salting. Salt pulls water out of the cucumbers and onion over the long rest. If the mixture is not drained well, the extra liquid dilutes the oil dressing and softens the texture.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, olive, mustard, celery, pepper, 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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