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Cucumber Pickles

A pickled cucumber recipe using sugar, vinegar, mustard seed, red pepper, nutmeg, and celery seed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cucumber Pickles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Soak cucumbers in brine for 24 hours.

  2. Scald cucumbers in weak vinegar or a mixture of half vinegar and half water.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In a pot, combine sugar, vinegar, mustard seed, red pepper, nutmeg, and celery seed; boil together.

  2. Pour the hot mixture over the cucumbers.

Seal

  1. Seal the jars while hot.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,331 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the main body of the pickle, becoming crisp-tender and firm after brining and scalding.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the cucumbers and gives the pickle its sour bite.
White mustard seed
Contributes a sharp, pungent flavour to the pickling liquid.
Celery seed
Adds a savoury, herbal aroma to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Scald the cucumbers in weak vinegar or half vinegar and half water. Scalding softens the cucumbers enough to take up the pickling liquid while keeping them firm. Overheating turns them soft and mushy, so they should be heated only until warmed through.

Swap the nutmeg

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, sugar, vinegar, mustard, pepper, celery. 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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