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Virginia Chow-chow

A pickled relish of cabbage, tomatoes, onions, peppers, brown sugar, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Horseradish and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Virginia Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Chop the cabbage, ripe tomatoes, green tomatoes, onions, and peppers finely.

  2. Sprinkle the chopped vegetables in layers with 1 pint of salt. Let the mixture sit overnight.

  3. Drain the vegetables thoroughly in a colander.

Cook and jar

  1. In a kettle, combine the drained vegetables with brown sugar and spices.

  2. Add enough vinegar to cover the mixture.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Transfer the hot chow-chow into airtight 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. Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cabbage + horseradishtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together481 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  5. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 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

Cabbage
Adds bulk and a crisp texture that holds up through cooking.
Green tomatoes
Provide tart acidity and firm body, balancing the sweetness of the sugar.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and aroma as they soften in the vinegar.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar and helps preserve the mixture.
Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the chow-chow and gives it its sharp flavor.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the vegetables, firming them and reducing excess liquid.

The step that matters

Drain the vegetables thoroughly. Salting draws out a lot of water. If the vegetables stay wet, the extra liquid dilutes the vinegar and sugar, weakening the preserving brine and making the chow-chow soggy.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, onion, pepper, sugar, horseradish, mustard, celery):

  1. Turnipfits better
  2. Broccolifits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, onion, pepper, sugar, horseradish, mustard, 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.

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