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Sauce

Tomato Mustard

A tomato-based mustard sauce boiled with onions, peppers, spices, sugar, mustard, and cider vinegar, then bottled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and ginger 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 ↓

Tomato Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

Combine and boil

  1. Peck ripe tomatoes, 4 onions, 2 red peppers, 1 tablespoon whole cloves.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon whole black pepper, 1 tablespoon ginger, 2 tablespoons salt.

  3. Boil for two hours.

Sweeten, strain and bottle

  1. Strain; then add 1 small cup brown sugar, 1 cup mustard stirred into 1 pint cider vinegar.

  2. Boil for two hours and bottle.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

117Calories
2 gProtein
1 gFat
28 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 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.

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. 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. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  4. Clove + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 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

Tomatoes (in the method)
Break down during long boiling to form the thick body of the sauce.
Onions
Soften and dissolve into the sauce, adding body and mild sweetness.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and deep flavour that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that gives the sauce its characteristic bite.
Cider vinegar (in the method)
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps keep the sauce tangy.

The step that matters

Second two-hour boil after adding the vinegar mixture. Long simmering evaporates excess liquid and lets the sharp vinegar and mustard mellow into the sugar and vegetables. Stopping early leaves the sauce thin and harsh-tasting.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, pepper, ginger, sugar, mustard):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, pepper, ginger, sugar, mustard. 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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