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Spanish Pickle

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, cabbage, onions, and peppers seasoned with mustard, turmeric, celery seed, cinnamon, ginger, mustard, and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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. If cucumbers are fresh, soak in brine for 4-5 days; if in brine, soak in fresh water for 24 hours.

  2. Slice cucumbers into large pieces.

  3. Chop cabbage finely and let it sit in salt for 8 hours.

  4. Chop onions and green peppers, soak them in salt water for 8 hours, then squeeze out excess water.

Make the pickle

  1. Combine mustard seed, turmeric, celery seed, cinnamon, ginger, mustard, and brown sugar to make the seasoning.

  2. Layer the cucumbers, cabbage, onions, and peppers alternately with the seasoning mixture in a kettle.

  3. Cover the mixture with strong vinegar.

  4. Boil for 30 minutes or until it begins to thicken.

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. Turmeric + cinnamontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,197 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Form the bulk of the pickle, providing crisp pieces that soften during soaking and cooking.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a crisp texture that holds up through the salt soak and boiling.
Onions
Add savory flavor and body to the pickle.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar and mustard.
Strong vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the vegetables and sharpens the flavor.
White mustard seed
Adds pungent flavor and a slight bite to the seasoning.

The step that matters

Boil until it begins to thicken. Boiling drives off water and lets the sugar and vinegar concentrate into a syrupy, thickened pickle. Stopping too early leaves it thin and watery, while overcooking can make it dense and sticky.

Swap the onion

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

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

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