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Cold Catsup

A tomato-based relish with horseradish, mustard seeds, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Horseradish and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Cold Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the catsup

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the tomatoes, horseradish, salt, mustard seeds, black pepper, red peppers, celery seed, onions, cloves, mace, cinnamon, brown sugar, and cider vinegar, stirring thoroughly until well combined.

  2. Transfer the mixture into small jars.

Serve

  1. Use immediately as a relish for cold or hot meats.

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. Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Ripe tomatoes
Form the main body and provide the moisture and bulk of the catsup.
Horseradish
Adds sharp, pungent heat that cuts through the richness of meat.
Mustard seeds
Contribute a sharp, tangy bite and a bit of texture to the sauce.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps preserve the uncooked relish.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses note that balances the sharp and acidic flavors.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, horseradish, mustard, pepper, celery, onion, clove):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, horseradish, mustard, pepper, celery, onion, 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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