Name: Curry Powder
Ingredients: 1½ ounces mustard seed; 4 ounces coriander seed; 4½ ounces turmeric; 3 ounces black pepper; 1 ounce lesser cardamom; ½ ounce ginger; 1 ounce cinnamon; ½ ounce cloves; ½ ounce mace

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Curry Powder

Ingredients

Directions

Grind all ingredients into a fine powder.
Mix the powders well together.
Store in a wide-mouthed bottle, tightly closed for use.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Turmeric + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together667 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cardamom + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,299 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,776 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Coriander + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together872 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Turmeric: Gives the blend its yellow colour and earthy, slightly bitter base flavour.
Coriander seed: Provides the main citrusy, floral aroma that forms the body of the blend.
Black pepper: Adds a sharp, pungent bite that lifts the other warm spices.
Mustard seed: Contributes a sharp, pungent flavour when ground into the blend.
Cinnamon: Adds a warm, sweet aroma that rounds out the spice mix.
Lesser cardamom: Adds a fragrant, floral and slightly sweet aroma to the blend.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coriander, turmeric, pepper, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, clove):

Carrotfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, turmeric, pepper, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, clove. 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.