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Another Good Receipt for Walnut Catsup

A preserved walnut ketchup made by steeping walnuts, eschalots, garlic, salt, and vinegar, then boiling with anchovies, pepper, cloves, and mace.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Another Good Receipt for Walnut Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Steep the walnuts

  1. Beat a hundred green walnuts in a large marble mortar until bruised and broken.

  2. Put them into a stone jar with half a pound of eschalots, sliced, one head of garlic, half a pound of salt, and two quarts of vinegar.

  3. Let them stand for ten days, stirring night and morning.

  4. Strain off the liquor.

Boil and bottle

  1. Boil it for half an hour with two ounces of anchovies, two ounces of whole pepper, half an ounce of cloves, and two drachms of mace, skimming it well.

  2. Strain it off.

  3. When it is quite cold, pour it gently from the sediment into small dry bottles.

  4. Secure it from air by sound corking.

  5. Store it in a dry place.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

14Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
2 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot 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 Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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 + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Garlic + clovetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Garlic + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Green walnuts (in the method)
Form the bulk of the ketchup and give it its nutty, slightly bitter flavour as they steep.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the ketchup.
Eschalots
Add a sharp, savoury aromatic flavour to the steeping liquor.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma and depth to the steeped liquor.
Anchovies
Add savoury depth to the liquor as it boils.

The step that matters

Pour off the liquor gently when cold. Pouring slowly and only once the liquid is cold leaves the sediment behind in the jar. Disturbing it or bottling while hot can cloud the ketchup and leave residue that may spoil it sooner.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, vinegar, clove):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, vinegar, 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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