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Cucumber Pickles

A pickled cucumber recipe using cider vinegar, pepper, ginger, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Brine and rinse

  1. Soak cucumbers in a strong brine for 24 hours.

  2. Rinse cucumbers in clear, cold water for 2 hours.

Pickle

  1. Heat cider vinegar with whole pepper, red peppers, mustard seed, sliced ginger, and sugar until scalding hot.

  2. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the cucumbers and cover.

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

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

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the pickle itself; brining firms and seasons them before the vinegar is added.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickle.
Sugar
Balances the sharp vinegar with a mild sweetness.
Mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that infuses into the hot vinegar.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot vinegar over the cucumbers. The vinegar must be at scalding heat so it penetrates the cucumbers and begins to pickle them evenly. Cool liquid would leave the centre under-flavoured and more prone to spoilage.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cider, vinegar, pepper, 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 cucumber pickles recipes

Sweet 23Green 9Spiced 9Small 7Sliced 6Sour 5 See all 334 →

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