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Southern Chow-chow

A pickled vegetable mixture of green peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and cabbage are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Southern Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Salt the sliced green peppers and increase the quantity of green tomatoes, omitting the onions.

  2. Add sliced white cabbage if desired.

Cook

  1. Combine vinegar and spices in a pot with the vegetables.

  2. Boil the mixture for 30 minutes.

Cool and store

  1. Allow to cool and store in air-tight 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. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + cabbagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together333 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 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

Green tomatoes
Provides most of the bulk and a tart, fresh flavour.
Sliced green peppers
Adds bulk and a mildly bitter vegetable flavour.
Sliced white cabbage
Adds optional bulk and a crisp, mild vegetable body.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the vegetables and helps preserve them.
Spices
Provide the aroma and warm flavour that define the relish.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cabbage, vinegar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Radishfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cabbage, vinegar. 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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