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Canadian Tomato Mustard

A preserved tomato condiment flavored with vinegar, sugar, spices, and mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,928 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Canadian Tomato Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Boil and strain the tomatoes.

  2. Add malt vinegar, white sugar, white pepper, allspice, coarse sea salt, and mustard to the strained tomatoes.

  3. Slash the green pepper and add it whole to the mixture.

  4. Boil for 2 hours.

  5. Remove the green pepper and allspice.

Bottle

  1. Bottle the mixture when it is cold.

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 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

Ripe tomatoes
Form the bulk of the sauce and provide body, moisture and fruity flavour.
Malt vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sugar and helps preserve the sauce.
White sugar
Adds sweetness that rounds out the acidity and sharpness of the vinegar.
Best mustard
Contributes pungent, sharp flavour that gives the sauce its characteristic bite.
Whole allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the sauce while it simmers.
White pepper
Adds mild, sharp pungency that supports the mustard's heat.

The step that matters

Boil for 2 hours. Long simmering evaporates water, concentrating flavour and thickening the sauce. Stopping too early leaves it thin and watery, while overcooking can scorch it and dull the flavours.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, malt, vinegar, sugar, allspice, mustard, pepper. 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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