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Cucumber Mangoes

Pickled cucumbers with cabbage, peppers, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard 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 Mangoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cucumbers

  1. Cut a piece out of the side of each cucumber and fasten it back with a needle and strong thread.

  2. Scrape out the seeds and pulp, then soak the cucumbers in weak salt water for 5 hours.

  3. Make a dressing by mixing cabbage, green peppers, celery seed, mustard seed, black pepper, salt, and sugar.

  4. Squeeze the water from the dressing and fill each cucumber with it, adding 2 onion sets and 2 small beans.

  5. Tie the piece back on and secure with a strip of cotton.

Cook and pack

  1. Layer grape or cabbage leaves and 1 tablespoon of alum in a porcelain kettle, then add the cucumbers.

  2. Cover with vinegar and scald for 45 minutes.

  3. Transfer the cucumbers to jars, adding spices to taste.

  4. In a pot, combine 1.5 pounds of sugar with 1 gallon of cider vinegar, boil for 15 minutes, and pour over the cucumbers.

  5. If the vinegar does not cover the cucumbers, add cold vinegar.

  6. Seal the jars tightly.

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. Celery + mustardtop 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. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

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

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

Green cucumbers
Form the hollow shells that are filled and pickled, providing the crisp base of the dish.
Cabbage
Supplies bulk and a crisp texture to the filling inside each cucumber.
Alum
Helps the pickled cucumbers stay firm during scalding.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves and sharpens the pickles.
Sugar
Balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar with sweetness.

The step that matters

Scalding in vinegar. Scalding for the full 45 minutes must be done gently, because boiling vigorously can soften the cucumbers and split their skins. Keeping every cucumber fully covered by vinegar ensures even acid penetration and preservation.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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