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Plain Cucumber Pickles

A simple pickled cucumber recipe using vinegar, sugar, and peppers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,734 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Plain Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Soak the cucumbers in a strong brine overnight.

  2. In the morning, wash the cucumbers in cold water.

Make the pickle liquid

  1. Scald the vinegar with the sugar and peppers.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over the cucumbers.

  3. Let the pickles sit for a week before using.

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

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  2. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Cucumber + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,112 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Main vegetable that becomes crisp-textured pickles after brining and soaking.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickles their sour flavour.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Red and green peppers
Add mild flavour and colour to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Soaking the cucumbers in strong brine overnight. Salt draws water out of the cucumbers and firms their texture, so the pickles stay crisp rather than soft. Skipping or shortening this soak can leave the finished pickles limp.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cabbagefits about as well
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, pepper. 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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Sweet 23Green 9Spiced 9Small 7Sliced 6Sour 5 See all 334 →

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