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Catsup, Walnut

A walnut-based condiment made with vinegar, spices, and sweetener.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Catsup, Walnut

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the walnuts

  1. Beat the walnuts in a wooden mortar.

  2. Combine the beaten walnuts with the vinegar and strain through a coarse cloth.

  3. If the mixture tastes too strong, add more vinegar.

Season and bottle

  1. Add ginger, black pepper, allspice, black mustard seed, garlic, brown sugar, and horseradish to the vinegar.

  2. Mix well, then bottle and seal the mixture.

Age and store

  1. If the weather is warm, place the bottles in the sun for a week or ten days.

  2. Store the bottles in a dry cellar.

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. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Walnuts
Provide the base flavour and body of the catsup once beaten and strained into the vinegar.
Vinegar
Acts as the liquid base and preserving agent that extracts and holds the walnut flavour.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma and savoury depth that mellows during standing.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Horseradish
Contributes pungent heat and sharp aroma to the sauce.
Black mustard seed
Adds sharp, pungent bite and aroma to the sauce.

The step that matters

Adding more vinegar if the mixture tastes too strong. Vinegar is the acid that both balances the strong spices and preserves the sauce; too little leaves the flavour harsh and weakens the preservation, so tasting and adjusting before bottling matters.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, ginger, pepper, allspice, mustard, garlic, sugar):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Cashew nutfits better
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, ginger, pepper, allspice, mustard, garlic, sugar. 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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