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Chow-chow Pickle

A pickled relish made from green tomatoes, cabbage, onions, green bell peppers, vinegar, sugar, and celery seed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chow-chow Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Salt the chopped green tomatoes and let them sit overnight.

Cook

  1. Combine the salted tomatoes with cabbage, onions, and green peppers in a large pot.

  2. Add vinegar and sugar to the mixture.

  3. Season with celery seed and spices as desired.

  4. Cook the mixture until done.

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

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

  2. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Provide the main bulk and tart body of the pickle, softened by salting and cooking.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a crisp-tender texture that holds up during long cooking.
Vinegar
Supplies the acidity that preserves the pickle and gives it its sharp flavor.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and tomatoes with sweetness.
Onions
Add savory depth and aromatic flavor as they soften during cooking.

The step that matters

Salting the green tomatoes overnight. Salt draws water out of the tomatoes through osmosis, firming their texture and reducing excess liquid. Skipping or shortening this step leaves the pickle watery and soft.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cabbage, pepper, vinegar, sugar, celery):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cabbage, pepper, vinegar, sugar, celery. 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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