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French Mustard

A mustard paste made with cloves, allspice, sugar, mustard, flour, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice 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 ↓

French Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine ground cloves, ground allspice, white sugar, mustard, and wheat flour.

  2. Gradually add vinegar until the mixture forms a paste.

  3. Mix well until smooth and fully combined.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 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. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Clove + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mustard
Provides the main body of flavour and the sharp, pungent bite.
Wheat flour
Thickens the mixture and gives it body so it holds as a paste.
White sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the mustard and vinegar.
Vinegar
Adds acidity and sharpness, and moistens the dry ingredients into a paste.
Ground cloves
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour.
Ground allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour.

The step that matters

Gradually add vinegar until the mixture forms a paste. Flour clumps when liquid hits it all at once. Adding vinegar slowly and mixing between additions lets the flour hydrate evenly, giving a smooth paste without lumps.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (allspice, sugar, mustard, wheat, flour, vinegar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Turmericfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against allspice, sugar, mustard, wheat, flour, 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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