Why it works: Pepper and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,491 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Potent Mustard
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the base
Mix the powdered cayenne pepper and flour of mustard together.
In a close vessel, mix the powdered lime, solution of pearlash, and hot water.
Cool and strain
Agitate well and let it cool.
Filter the mixture and reduce it to the desired strength.
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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Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,491 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Mustard + limetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together392 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + limetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,381 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour of mustard
- Forms the main body of the mixture and supplies the mustard pungency.
- Powdered cayenne pepper
- Adds sharp heat that gives the mustard its bite.
- Solution of pearlash
- An alkaline solution that shifts the mixture's chemistry.
- Hot water
- Acts as the liquid that dissolves and carries the other ingredients.
The step that matters
Reduce it to the desired strength. The final pungency depends on how far the mixture is diluted, and it is easy to overshoot. Adjust gradually and taste as you go so the heat stays under control.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, flour, lime):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Kalefits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, lime. 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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