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Spanish Pickle

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, cabbage, peppers, onions, and spices in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Spanish Pickle

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 ↓

Spanish Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Brine the cucumbers for 4 to 5 days.

  2. Slice the cucumbers into large pieces.

  3. Chop the cabbage, sprinkle with salt, and let it drain with the cucumbers for 24 hours.

  4. Slice the green peppers into large thin slices.

  5. Scald and peel the onions, then soak them in salt water overnight.

  6. Squeeze the cucumbers, cabbage, peppers, and onions dry.

Make the pickle

  1. In a porcelain kettle, layer the vegetables with the spices: mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric, Coleman's mustard, and sugar.

  2. Mix well with cider vinegar and boil until it thickens.

  3. Seal the mixture 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

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

  5. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Brining and draining firm them and drive off moisture so the pickle stays crisp rather than watery.
Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the pickle and, once salted and drained, adds crunch and a firm texture.
White mustard seed
Provides the sharp, pungent mustard flavour that defines the pickle.
Sugar
Sweetens the pickle and balances the acidity of the vinegar.
Best cider vinegar
Supplies the acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its tang.
White seed onions
Add mild sharpness and texture to the mix of vegetables.

The step that matters

Squeezing the vegetables dry. Any moisture left in the cucumbers, cabbage, peppers and onions dilutes the vinegar and sugar syrup, so the pickle can turn watery and spoil sooner. Thorough draining keeps the vegetables crisp and the brine strong.

Swap the onion

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

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

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