Skip to main content
Main

Chow-chow

A pickled relish made with cucumbers, cabbage, onions, vinegar, mustard, sugar, spices, and oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Soak cucumbers in water for 2 days.

  2. Soak chopped onions in weak brine overnight.

  3. Drain cucumbers and onions well.

  4. Dry cucumbers and onions in the sun.

  5. Cut cucumbers into small strips.

Make the chow chow

  1. Combine vinegar, mustard, sugar, turmeric, celery seed, and white mustard seed in a pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Add cucumbers, cabbage, and salad oil.

  4. Boil for 5 minutes.

  5. Seal tightly in jars.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  5. Turmeric + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the crisp, chunky vegetable base that stays firm after pickling.
Vinegar
Supplies the acidity that preserves the mixture and gives it its sharp tang.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
White mustard seed
Adds pungent, sharp flavour that mellows during cooking.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its characteristic yellow colour and earthy aroma.
Salad oil
Adds fat that carries flavour and gives the relish a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Drying the cucumbers and onions in the sun. Removing surface water before adding them to hot vinegar helps the vegetables keep their crunch and stops the pickle from becoming watery and diluted.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Cauliflowerfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cabbage, vinegar, mustard, sugar, turmeric, celery. 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.

More chow chow recipes

Relish 49Pickle 25Pickles 16Tomato 9Cucumber 4Salad 3 See all 120 →

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesRed CabbageRed Cabbage65 recipesStewed CabbageStewed Cabbage58 recipesBaked CabbageBaked Cabbage51 recipes