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Chow-chow

A pickled relish made from cabbage, onions, tomatoes, peppers, spices, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large bowl, combine chopped cabbage, onions, ground mustard, ginger, cloves, mace, cinnamon, celery seed, turmeric powder, sugar, green tomatoes, green peppers, and salt. Mix thoroughly and cover the mixture with vinegar.

Process and bottle

  1. Process the mixture at 212°F (100°C) for 10 minutes.

  2. Bottle the chow-chow and seal.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the relish and gives it a crisp, sturdy texture.
Green tomatoes
Add tartness and body, helping the relish hold together as it cooks.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar and helps preserve the relish.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the relish and gives it its sharp flavour.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and aroma to the relish.
Green peppers
Add fresh, grassy bitterness and extra crunch.

The step that matters

Process at 212°F (100°C) for 10 minutes. The mixture must be heated enough to reach a safe, stable state for bottling. Holding it at the stated temperature for the full time helps destroy microorganisms, while the vinegar and sugar add further protection against spoilage.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, onion, mustard, ginger, clove, cinnamon, celery):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, onion, mustard, ginger, clove, cinnamon, celery. 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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