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Mustard Plaster

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mustard Plaster

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the mustard and wheat flour.

  2. Add enough vinegar to form a paste.

  3. Incorporate the egg white to prevent blistering.

  4. Spread the mixture on a cloth and apply to the bowels for relief.

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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together134 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, flour, vinegar, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, flour, vinegar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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