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Premium Spanish Pickle

A pickled mixture of cucumbers, cabbage, onions, green pepper, spices, vinegar, mustard, and honey syrup.

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 ↓

Premium Spanish Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Peel and slice the cucumbers lengthwise, then cut them into 1-inch pieces.

  2. Chop the cabbage and green pepper.

  3. Salt each separately and let them stand overnight.

  4. In the morning, squeeze out the salt water from the vegetables.

Make the pickle

  1. Add celery seed, white mustard seed, turmeric, ground cloves, allspice, grated horseradish, and brown sugar. Mix well.

  2. Put the mixture into a kettle and cover with vinegar.

  3. Scald the mixture.

  4. When cold, add Lexington mustard and mix again.

Jar and seal

  1. Transfer to jars.

  2. Cover with cold vinegar.

  3. Add a little honey syrup to prevent molding.

  4. Seal the 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.

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. 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 + clovetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,876 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the crisp, bulky vegetable base of the pickle.
Cabbage
Adds body and crunch that holds up in the vinegar mixture.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharp vinegar with sweetness.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its sharp flavor.
White mustard seed
Contributes a pungent, sharp flavor that carries through the pickle.
Lexington mustard
Adds sharpness and mustard flavor to the finished pickle.

The step that matters

Squeezing out the salt water in the morning. Salt draws water out of the cucumbers and cabbage by osmosis. If too much liquid remains, the pickle will be watery and dilute the vinegar, so the vegetables should be drained well before mixing.

Swap the onion

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

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

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