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The Turkish pantry

Cornichons

Small pickled cucumbers bring acidity and crunch to Rus salatası. Drain them before chopping, then taste the finished salad before adding more salt or acid.

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Cornichon cucumber pickles. This is a preserved cucumber ingredient, not fresh Persian cucumber; vinegar, salt and seasonings vary by product.

Glossy green cornichon pickles piled in a cream bowl.

Types & forms

Whole cornichons

Small pickled cucumbers ready to drain and chop. Check the label for sweetness and seasoning.

Sweet relish

Usually chopped and sweetened; it changes both the flavor and liquid balance.

What to look for when buying

  • Choose an intact sealed jar and a pickle style suited to the recipe. Sweetened pickles are not the same flavor as sharply acidic cornichons.
  • For an opened jar, follow its refrigeration and use-after-opening directions rather than another brand’s shelf life.

Prepare & cook

  • Lift out with a clean utensil and drain well. Chop into pieces similar in size to the other salad vegetables.
  • Add gradually and taste after mixing; pickle liquid can thin mayonnaise, and the pickles already contribute salt and acidity.

Store it well

  • Keep the remaining pickles as the label directs, using clean utensils and closing the jar after use. Refrigerate after opening when required.
  • Once mixed into a perishable salad, refrigerate promptly and follow the storage needs of the entire dish. Pickling does not preserve the other ingredients.

Substitutions depend on the dish

Another unsweetened cucumber pickle

Can work if chopped to the same size; adjust for a different salt and acid balance.

Fresh cucumber

Supplies crunch but not the pickle flavor; it is not an equivalent replacement.

Nutrition

No verified nutrition data is available for this ingredient.

At the Turkish table

In the linked Rus salatası, cornichons cut through the creamy dressing. The guide describes their practical role without assigning one national origin to the salad.

Cook with Cornichons

Diced potato, carrot, peas and pickles lightly coated in creamy dressing with dill

Russian Salad

Diced potatoes, carrots, peas and tangy cornichons in a creamy mayonnaise dressing.

A baked potato filled with creamy potato, corn, black olive slices, chopped pickles, mayonnaise and ketchup.
İstanbul style

Loaded Baked Potato

A large baked potato mashed inside its skin with butter and kaşar cheese, then topped with corn, olives, cornichons, mayonnaise and ketchup—an Ortaköy favorite.

A toasted Yengen roll filled with meat strips, melted kaşar, tomato and pickles on a blue patterned plate on a terrace.

Toasted Deli-Meat Sandwich

A generous Turkish street-food sandwich with pan-cooked sucuk, beef bologna and frankfurters, melted kaşar, tomato and cornichons in a lightly toasted roll.

A round toasted roll with sucuk, frankfurters, melted cheese, a cooked egg with broken yolk, pickle slices and ketchup on a blue-and-white plate on a stone terrace table.
Antalya style

Yumurtalı Yengen

A hot büfe sandwich with a ring-cooked egg, melted cheese and pickles. Inspired by our editor’s childhood memories of eating yengen at Antalya Spor Büfesi, this version features a round bun, grilled sucuk and sosis, melted kaşar, and an egg cooked in a metal ring.