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Cucumber Catsup

A fermented cucumber condiment made with cucumbers, onions, peppers, mustard, salt, and cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cucumber Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Peel and grate the cucumbers, then remove the seeds and chop them finely.

  2. Add the salt, mix well, and tie the mixture in a thin cloth to drain overnight.

  3. Chop the onions and peppers finely.

Macerate and age

  1. In a stone jar, combine the chopped cucumbers, onions, peppers, and both types of mustard.

  2. Cover the mixture with pure cider vinegar and tie a cloth over the jar.

  3. Let the catsup sit for two weeks before using.

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. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  2. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  3. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Make up the bulk of the ketchup and give it its fresh, watery body.
Salt
Draws moisture out of the grated cucumbers so the mixture drains and thickens.
White mustard
Adds sharp, pungent heat that mellows during the long resting period.
Black mustard
Adds a sharper, more pungent bite than white mustard alongside it.
Pure cider vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the mixture and gives it its tang.

The step that matters

Draining the salted cucumber mixture overnight. Salt pulls water out of the grated cucumber through osmosis. If the mixture is not drained well, excess liquid dilutes the ketchup and makes it watery and less stable during the long rest.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Radishfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, pepper, mustard, cider, 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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