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Spanish Pickle

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, cabbage, bell peppers, and onions flavored with brown sugar, mustard, turmeric, celery seed, and white mustard seed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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. Slice the cucumbers into large pieces.

  2. Finely chop the cabbage and bell peppers.

  3. Scald the onion sets.

  4. Peel the onion sets.

  5. Sprinkle the onion sets with salt.

  6. Let the onion sets stand overnight.

  7. Press the vegetables dry with your hands.

Cook and seal

  1. Combine the vegetables with brown sugar, mustard, turmeric, celery seed, and white mustard seed in a porcelain kettle.

  2. Cover the mixture with cider vinegar.

  3. Boil until it begins to thicken.

  4. Seal in small jars.

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. Turmeric + celerytop 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
Provide the bulk of the pickle, staying crisp-textured when pressed dry first.
Cabbage
Adds body and crunch to the pickle mass.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps thicken the pickle as it cooks down.
Cider vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavor.
White mustard seed
Adds pungent flavor and a bit of texture to the pickle.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its yellow color and a warm, earthy aroma.

The step that matters

Press the vegetables dry. Removing excess water before cooking keeps the pickle from diluting the vinegar and sugar, so it thickens properly and stays crisp rather than watery.

Swap the onion

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

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

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

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