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Chow-chow

A pickled vegetable relish made from cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, celery, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 584 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, celery, peppers, and green tomatoes into small pieces.

  2. Boil each vegetable separately until tender, then strain them.

Make the dressing

  1. In a kettle, combine the vinegar, mustard, mustard seed, French mustard, cloves, and turmeric. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Combine and serve

  1. Mix the boiled vegetables with the dressing and serve.

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.

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. Cauliflower + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Cabbage + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  4. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the relish its sharp flavor.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, slightly bitter flavor and crunch to the relish.
Turmeric
Gives the relish its yellow color and a warm, earthy flavor.
Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the relish, adding texture after it is boiled and strained.
Cauliflower
Adds bulk and a tender texture to the pickled mix.
Green tomatoes
Adds firm body and tartness that holds its shape in the pickle.

The step that matters

Boiling each vegetable separately until tender. Vegetables of different firmness need their own cooking time; cooking them together risks mushy pieces or undercooked ones. Straining well removes excess water so the dressing is not diluted and the relish keeps its texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, celery, pepper, tomato, vinegar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, celery, pepper, tomato, vinegar. 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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