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Sauce

Another Way to Make Walnut Catsup

A walnut-based condiment made by steeping walnuts, shallots, garlic, salt, and vinegar, then simmering with port wine, anchovies, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Another Way to Make Walnut Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the walnuts

  1. Slice the walnuts without shelling them.

  2. Beat the walnuts in a mortar and place them in a jar.

Steep the flavourings

  1. Add the shallots, garlic, salt, and vinegar to the jar.

  2. Let the mixture stand for a week, stirring 2-3 times each day.

  3. Strain the mixture and pour the liquid into a saucepan.

Boil and bottle

  1. Add the port wine, anchovies, black pepper, cloves, and mace.

  2. Boil the mixture for 30 minutes, skimming it well.

  3. Run the liquid through a jelly bag and let it cool completely.

  4. Pour the cooled liquid into small bottles, cork them tightly, and seal.

  5. Store the bottles in a dry place.

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. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Walnut + shallottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together440 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Walnuts
Provide the main flavour and dark colour of the ketchup.
Shallots
Add savoury, aromatic depth to the steeped liquid.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows during steeping and boiling.
Vinegar
Acts as the preserving liquid and extracts flavour from the solids.
Anchovies
Contribute a deep savoury, umami note to the sauce.

The step that matters

Skimming during the boil. Skimming removes foam and loose solids that rise during boiling, keeping the liquid clear and preventing off-flavours. Clear liquid also filters more cleanly through the jelly bag.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, shallot, garlic, vinegar, port wine, pepper, clove):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, shallot, garlic, vinegar, port wine, pepper, 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.

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