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 ↓
Pickles, Etc
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the white mustard seed, celery seed, and turmeric in a bowl.
Pour enough cider vinegar over the mixture to cover the fruit.
Mix several times to ensure even distribution.
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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Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,279 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the turmeric
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, celery, cider, vinegar):
- Tarragonfits better
- Dillfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Turmericthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, celery, cider, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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