Why it works: Celery and mustard 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 ↓
Corn Relish
Ingredients
Directions
Salt the cabbage and drain off the water.
Mix the peppers, celery seed, mustard seed, cabbage, and corn together.
In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, cornstarch, sugar, turmeric, and yellow mustard if using.
Pour the boiling dressing over the vegetable mixture and seal.
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.
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Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,279 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mustard
The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, pepper, celery, corn, vinegar, sugar, turmeric):
- Mustardthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Cauliflowerfits less well
- Carrotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, pepper, celery, corn, vinegar, sugar, turmeric. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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