Why it works: Horseradish and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Keeping Mustard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the infusion
Dissolve the salt in the boiling vinegar.
Pour the hot mixture over the scraped horseradish.
Cover the jar tightly and let it stand for 24 hours.
Finish and bottle
Strain the mixture and gradually mix it with the mustard flour.
Beat well until smooth and of the desired thickness.
Transfer to a wide-mouthed bottle and seal tightly.
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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Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Horseradish + flourtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together743 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Best durham flour of mustard
- Provides the main body and the sharp pungent flavour that gives mustard its character.
- Scraped horseradish
- Adds pungent heat and aroma as its volatile compounds steep into the hot vinegar.
- Boiling vinegar
- Carries the horseradish flavour and gives the mustard its sharp acidity.
The step that matters
Gradually mixing the strained liquid into the mustard flour. Adding the liquid slowly and beating it in keeps lumps from forming, so the mustard becomes smooth and reaches the thickness you want.
Swap the horseradish
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, flour, mustard):
- Horseradishthe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Radishfits less well
- Lettucefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, flour, 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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