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Beetroot Pickle

A pickled beetroot preserved in a vinegar and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beetroot and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Beetroot Pickle

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the beetroot

  1. Wash the beetroots well, taking care not to break the skins.

  2. Bake the beetroots in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1½ hours.

  3. When cool enough to handle, remove the skins and cut the beetroots into ¼‑inch slices.

  4. Place the slices in jars.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. Boil the vinegar, horseradish, black pepper, and allspice together.

  2. Let the mixture cool completely, then pour it over the beetroot in the jars.

Seal and store

  1. Cover the jars with parchment paper coated on both sides with egg white.

  2. Store in a cool, dry place until needed.

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. Beetroot + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Allspice + horseradishtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together654 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Beetroot + allspicetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together79 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pepper + horseradishtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beetroots
Form the main body of the dish and, once baked, become tender and sweet.
Malt vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Black pepper
Adds a sharp, warm aroma that is carried into the pickling liquid.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the pickling liquid.
Horseradish
Adds pungent heat and aroma that mellows as the beetroot pickles.

The step that matters

Let the pickling liquid cool completely before pouring. Pouring hot liquid over the beetroot softens the slices and can cook them further, leading to a mushy texture. Cooling first keeps the slices firm and crisp while they absorb the vinegar.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beetroot, malt, vinegar, pepper, horseradish):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beetroot, malt, vinegar, pepper, horseradish. 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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