Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Walnut Catchup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the walnuts
Gather green walnuts that can be pierced with a coarse needle.
Crush the walnuts with a wooden mallet or poke them with a bodkin.
Place the walnuts in a pan and cover with a mixture of ½ cup salt and enough water to cover them.
Let the walnuts sit for 4-5 days, mashing and turning them daily with a wooden spoon.
Make the ketchup
On the fifth day, prepare a boiling mixture of 1 quart water and 1 quart mild vinegar.
Pour the boiling liquid over the walnuts, mash them, and strain the liquid through a bag.
Boil the walnut liquid gently for 1 hour, skimming off any foam.
Add 1 ounce of pounded allspice and black pepper, 1 teaspoon of pounded cloves, 1 teaspoon of pounded mace, and the grated nutmeg to the liquid.
Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, and let it boil for 45 minutes before bottling.
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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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,331 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Walnut + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,230 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green walnuts
- Provide the main flavour base and dark colour as they soak and break down in the brine.
- Table salt
- Draws out liquid and helps preserve the walnuts during the multi-day soak.
- Mild vinegar
- Adds acidity that helps preserve the ketchup and sharpens its flavour.
- Allspice
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the boiled liquid.
- Black pepper
- Adds sharp, aromatic heat to the boiled liquid.
The step that matters
Boiling the walnut liquid gently for 1 hour. Gentle boiling reduces the liquid and concentrates flavour while skimming removes foam that would cloud the ketchup. Boiling too hard can scorch the liquid or drive off too much volume before the spices are added.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, vinegar, allspice, pepper, clove, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, vinegar, allspice, pepper, clove, nutmeg. 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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