Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Walnut Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the walnuts
Bruise the walnuts until they form a mass.
Mix in the salt and 1 quart of vinegar.
Stir daily for 14 days.
Strain and squeeze the mixture through a cloth, setting the liquid aside.
Add ½ pint of vinegar to the husks and let it stand overnight.
Strain and squeeze the husks as before, combining the liquid with the reserved liquid.
Spice and boil
Add the whole pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger to the mixture.
Boil for 30 minutes, covered.
Strain the mixture again and let it cool.
Bottle
Bottle the catsup, securing with new corks dipped in melted rosin.
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.
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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Walnut + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,230 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green walnuts
- Provide the main body and dark, bitter flavour of the ketchup.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the walnuts and preserves the mixture during the long steep.
- Vinegar
- Acts as the liquid base and preservative, extracting flavour from the walnuts and husks.
- Cloves
- Add a warm, aromatic spice flavour.
- Whole pepper
- Adds sharp, pungent spice warmth to the sauce.
The step that matters
Stir daily for 14 days. The long steep lets salt and vinegar slowly extract flavour and preserve the mixture. Skipping or shortening it leaves the walnuts under-extracted and less protected against spoilage.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, clove, nutmeg, ginger):
- Chickpeafits better
- Cashew nutfits about as well
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, clove, nutmeg, ginger. 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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