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Household Curry-Stuff

A blend of turmeric, coriander, cumin, poppy seed, fenugreek, ginger, mustard, dried chillies, and black peppercorns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Turmeric and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Household Curry-Stuff

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Measure and weigh all ingredients carefully.

  2. Clean the ingredients and weigh them again, including any husks removed.

Blend and store

  1. Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.

  2. Store the curry powder in airtight bottles.

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. Turmeric + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,698 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Turmeric + fenugreektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together229 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Cumin + fenugreektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together178 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Turmeric
Provides the yellow colour and earthy, bitter aroma that define curry powder.
Coriander seed
Contributes citrusy, floral aroma and the bulk of the powder's flavour.
Cumin seed
Adds warm, earthy aroma that is characteristic of curry blends.
Fenugreek
Adds a bittersweet, maple-like aroma and depth to the blend.
Black peppercorns
Adds sharp heat and pungency that lifts the other spices.

The step that matters

Store the curry powder in airtight bottles. Ground spices lose volatile aroma compounds through oxidation and evaporation when exposed to air, so sealed storage keeps the blend fragrant for longer.

Swap the poppy seed

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, mustard):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Fennelfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Poppy seedthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, mustard. 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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