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Preserve

Chow-chow

A spiced relish of chopped green tomatoes and cabbage, cooked with vinegar and sugar and then canned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the cabbage and tomatoes with a chopping knife.

  2. Sprinkle 1 teacup of coarse sea salt over them and place in a colander to drain overnight.

  3. The next morning, combine all ingredients in a porcelain kettle. Add ground cloves, cinnamon, spice, white pepper, and red pepper.

Cook and can

  1. Place on the stove and bring to a boil, mixing thoroughly.

  2. Can the mixture.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Provide the bulk and tartness of the relish as they cook down.
Cabbage
Adds crisp texture and bulk that softens during simmering and salting.
Sugar
Balances the sharp vinegar with sweetness and helps preserve the relish.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that pickles the vegetables and keeps the relish preserved.
Green cucumbers
Add crunch and fresh vegetable bulk to the relish.

The step that matters

Draining the salted vegetables overnight. Salt draws water out of the cabbage and tomatoes. Draining removes that liquid so the relish stays thick and crisp rather than watery after boiling.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cabbage, cucumber, mustard, celery, sugar, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cabbage, cucumber, mustard, celery, sugar, 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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