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Tomato Chow Chow

A tomato-based stew with peppers, onions, vinegar, and spices, simmered for 30 minutes to an hour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Tomato Chow Chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions.

Cook

  1. In a large pot, combine all ingredients.

  2. Stew for 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Preserve

  1. If preserving for winter, seal jars hermetically.

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. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the bulk and liquid that forms the base of the relish.
Green bell peppers
Add crisp texture and a fresh, slightly bitter vegetal note.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma as they soften during stewing.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens flavor and helps preserve the relish.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the vinegar and tomatoes with sweetness.

The step that matters

Stew until thickened. Stewing for the full 30 minutes to 1 hour, with occasional stirring, lets the tomatoes break down and water evaporate so the relish thickens and the spices blend. Stopping early leaves it thin and watery, and stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, vinegar, sugar, ginger, allspice, cinnamon):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, vinegar, sugar, ginger, allspice, cinnamon. 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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