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Table Mustard

A preserved mustard condiment made with ground mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Table Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mustard

  1. In a pot, combine ground mustard, vinegar, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.

  2. Mix well and bring to a boil for 5 to 10 minutes.

  3. If the mixture is too thick, add more vinegar.

Rest

  1. Let it stand for a week for better flavor.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Mustard + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,581 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Ground mustard
Provides the main body and sharp, pungent flavor of the condiment.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and thins the paste to a spreadable consistency.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the mustard and vinegar with sweetness.
Cinnamon
Adds warm aroma and a background spice note.

The step that matters

Mix well and bring to a boil. Ground mustard's sharp heat develops when it meets liquid, and its flavor and thickness can shift as it cooks. Boiling for the full 5 to 10 minutes helps the mixture set evenly and mellows its harshness before the flavor settles.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Mustardthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Sweet potatofits less well
  4. Horseradishfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, 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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