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Piccallili or Chow-chow

A pickled relish of green tomatoes, onions, celery, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Piccallili or Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Chop or slice the green tomatoes and sprinkle with salt. Let them stand overnight.

  2. Drain off the water from the tomatoes and chop the onions and celery.

  3. Place the tomatoes, onions, and celery in a porcelain-lined kettle. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Cook and store

  1. Tie the spices in a bag. Add the spice bag and vinegar.

  2. Cook slowly for the entire day.

  3. Put the mixture into jars or an earthen crock.

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. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

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

  5. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 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

Green tomatoes
Form the bulk of the relish and soften into a tender, chunky texture as they cook.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the relish and gives it its tangy flavor.
Onions
Add savory depth and bulk, softening as they cook slowly.
Celery
Contributes crunch and a fresh, vegetal flavor that holds some texture after cooking.
Whole allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor infused into the vinegar during cooking.

The step that matters

Cook slowly for the entire day. Long, gentle simmering lets the vegetables soften and the spices infuse the vinegar. Too much heat can scorch the sugar and make the mixture stick to the kettle.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sugar, onion, celery, cinnamon, allspice, mustard):

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, onion, celery, cinnamon, allspice, mustard. 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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