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Walnut Catsup

A walnut-based condiment made by extracting juice from walnut shells, seasoning with spices, and bottling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Extract the liquor

  1. Combine walnut shells and salt in a tub and mix well.

  2. Let it stand for 6 days.

  3. Mash and beat frequently.

  4. Tip the tub to let the clear liquor run to one side. Repeat until no more liquor can be obtained.

  5. You should have about 6 quarts.

Spice and simmer

  1. Simmer the liquor in an iron pot and skim off any scum.

  2. Bruise the ginger, allspice, long pepper, and cloves and add them to the simmering liquor.

  3. Boil slowly for 30 minutes.

Bottle and store

  1. Add an equal quantity of spice to each bottle.

  2. Fill the bottles well, cork tightly, and seal.

  3. Store in a cool, dry place for 1 year.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Green walnut shells
Release the dark, astringent liquor that forms the ketchup's base flavour.
Common salt
Draws liquor out of the shells and acts as a preservative.
Ginger
Adds warm, pungent aroma to the liquor.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes to the liquor.
Long pepper
Adds sharp, peppery heat to the liquor.
Cloves
Adds strong, sweet aromatic spice notes to the liquor.

The step that matters

Extracting the liquor by standing, mashing and draining. Salt draws liquor out of the walnut shells over time. Mashing and repeated tipping release more liquid, and the salt keeps the mixture from spoiling. Skipping repeats leaves flavour and liquor behind.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, allspice, pepper, clove):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Beansfits about as well
  4. Cashew nutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, allspice, pepper, clove. 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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