Why it works: Tomato and cucumber are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Chow Chow
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Salt the sliced cucumbers and green tomatoes and let them sit overnight.
Soak the green peppers in cold water overnight.
Combine
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
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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Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,405 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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
- Provide the bulk of the chow chow and its tart, fresh flavor.
- Cucumbers
- Add crisp texture and mild, fresh bulk to the mixture.
- Green peppers
- Add crunch and a slightly bitter, vegetal note.
- Onion
- Adds sharp aroma and savory flavor to the relish.
The step that matters
Salting the cucumbers and green tomatoes overnight. Salt draws water out of the vegetables by osmosis, which firms their texture and keeps them crisp rather than watery in the finished relish.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cucumber, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Eggplantfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cucumber, 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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