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Cucumber Relish

A preserved cucumber relish made with salt, onions, white pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,050 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cucumber Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice cucumbers very thin and chop them finely.

  2. Add salt and drain in a colander for about an hour.

Make the relish

  1. Add chopped onions, white pepper, and vinegar.

  2. Stir together and seal in pint jars.

  3. Do not heat or cook.

Age

  1. Let it stand for at least a month 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 + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. White pepper + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cucumber + white peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together317 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the bulk of the relish and its crisp, fresh texture once drained.
Salt
Draws water out of the cucumbers, firming them and reducing excess liquid.
Onions
Add sharp, savory flavor that mellows during the long standing time.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the relish and gives it its tangy flavor.

The step that matters

Draining the salted cucumbers. If the cucumbers are not drained well, excess water dilutes the vinegar and makes the relish watery and less stable in the jar. Salting first pulls out moisture so the finished relish stays crisp and held together.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, onion, 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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