Why it works: Grape and dill work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 110 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Dill Pickles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pickles
Wash the pickles thoroughly.
Soak the pickles in cold water for 4 to 5 hours.
Remove the pickles from the water.
Pack the jar
Place a layer of grape or horseradish leaves in a stone jar.
Add a layer of pickles, followed by a few pieces of dill and a generous sprinkle of coarse sea salt.
Repeat the layers until the jar is filled.
Top with a layer of grape leaves.
Weight it down with a plate and a sterilized rock.
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.
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Grape + dilltop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together110 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
- Pickles
- Provide the main cucumber body that softens and ferments in the brine-like layers.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the pickles while controlling the fermentation.
- Dill
- Adds its aromatic flavour to the pickles as they cure.
- Grape or horseradish leaves
- Add tannins that help the pickles stay firm and crisp.
The step that matters
Weight it down with a plate and a sterilized rock. Pickles must stay fully submerged in their brine, because any part exposed to air can spoil or grow mould. Enough weight keeps everything under the liquid as it cures.
“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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