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Chow-chow

A pickled mixture of cabbage, cucumber, onions, horseradish, mustard seed, celery seed, brown sugar, spices, vinegar, olive oil, and mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fayette (Mo.). Baptist Church, Ladies of the · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut cabbage, cucumbers, and onions into small pieces.

  2. Pack the vegetables in salt overnight, then drain thoroughly.

Mix and pickle

  1. Combine one large head of cabbage, twelve cucumbers, one-fourth peck green tomatoes, six onions, one-half pint grated horseradish, half pound white mustard seed, two tablespoons celery seed, half teacup brown sugar, and a fourth teacup each of turmeric, cinnamon, and ground pepper.

  2. Mix all ingredients together.

  3. Pour boiling hot vinegar over the mixture for three mornings.

Finish and seal

  1. On the third morning, mix a small box of mustard with a pint of olive oil, add while the pickle is hot, and seal.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

176Calories
6 gProtein
1 gFat
39 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
White Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Horseradishnot in our table0
Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Fayette (Mo.). Baptist Church, Ladies of the. 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. 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.

  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. Horseradish + cucumbertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together640 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Horseradish + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together481 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Mustard + cucumbertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 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

Horseradish
Adds sharp heat that mellows during the long pickling period.
White mustard seed
Provides pungent flavor and a slightly firm bite to the pickle.
Cabbage
Forms the crisp, bulky body of the pickle.
Cucumbers
Contribute crunch and moisture that the salt draws out and the vinegar softens.
Onions
Add savory sharpness and aroma to the mixture.
Brown sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.

The step that matters

Packing the vegetables in salt overnight, then draining thoroughly. Salt draws water out of the cabbage, cucumbers and onions. If they are not drained well, the excess liquid dilutes the vinegar and the pickle can turn soft and watery.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (horseradish, mustard, celery, olive, cabbage, cucumber, sugar):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against horseradish, mustard, celery, olive, cabbage, cucumber, sugar. 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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