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 ↓
Pickled Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
Brine
Layer half an inch of coarse sea salt in a keg.
Place a layer of cucumbers closely over the salt and cover with more salt. Continue layering cucumbers and salt until the keg is full.
Add 1 pint of cold water to create brine.
Place a board with a weight on top to keep cucumbers submerged. Cover the keg and store it in a cool cellar.
Freshen and pickle
When ready to use, soak cucumbers in water for 3 days, changing the water daily.
Scald cucumbers in boiling vinegar, then drain. Transfer cucumbers to cold spiced vinegar and let sit for a week before using.
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.
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Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 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
- Main vegetable that becomes crisp-textured and tangy after brining and pickling.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cucumbers and preserves them during the brine.
- Cold spiced vinegar
- Provides the sharp acidity and spiced flavour that defines the finished pickles.
The step that matters
Keeping cucumbers fully submerged in brine. Cucumbers exposed to air can spoil and grow mold. A weight holding them under the brine keeps the salt solution covering every piece while they cure.
“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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