Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Walnut Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the walnut base
Take the walnuts while soft enough to beat into a paste.
Use white walnuts if available; if using black walnuts, gather them while tender enough for the rind to be pierced with a pin.
Add two quarts or a gallon of vinegar and a handful of salt to the walnut paste.
Let the liquor stand eight days in a stone jar, stirring frequently.
Make the ketchup
Strain the mixture into a tin saucepan.
Boil the strained liquid and skim it well.
Add ginger, horseradish, mustard seed, a few cloves of garlic, and a little black pepper to the boiling liquid. Let it boil up once.
Pour it into an earthen pan.
When cold, bottle it, dividing the ingredients between each bottle.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Clove | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Mustard | 1 tsp (5g) yellow | 3 |
| Ginger | 1 tsp grated fresh (2g) | 2 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Mustard + clovetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,829 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Ginger + mustardtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,456 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,386 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
- Walnuts (in the method)
- Provide the main flavour base and body when beaten into a paste.
- Vinegar
- Acts as the liquid that extracts and preserves the walnut flavour during standing.
- Salt
- Helps draw out flavour and preserve the mixture during the long standing.
The step that matters
Let the liquor stand eight days in a stone jar, stirring frequently.. The walnut paste must steep in vinegar long enough for flavour to be extracted, and frequent stirring keeps the solids evenly exposed to the liquid so the infusion is uniform.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, ginger, clove):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
- Carrotfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, ginger, 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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