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Mes. Ellas' Chow Chow

A pickled relish of tomatoes, onions, peppers, cucumbers, and cabbage seasoned with spices and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mes. Ellas' Chow Chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the tomatoes, onions, green peppers, cucumbers, and cabbage finely.

  2. Combine the chopped vegetables in a bowl and sprinkle with salt.

  3. Let the mixture sit overnight.

Season and cook

  1. In the morning, drain off the brine.

  2. Add celery seed, turmeric, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, black pepper, and cloves to the vegetables.

  3. Add enough vinegar to cover the mixture.

  4. Boil the mixture for two hours.

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 + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  2. Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  4. Cucumber + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,102 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide moisture and acidity that give the relish its body and tang.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a crisp, firm texture that holds up during long cooking.
Salt
Draws water out of the vegetables, which is then drained off to firm them.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar and spices.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the mixture and sharpens its flavor.
Cloves
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the finished relish.

The step that matters

Draining the brine in the morning. Salt pulls water out of the vegetables overnight. Pouring off that liquid removes excess moisture, so the chow chow stays thick rather than watery after boiling.

Swap the onion

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

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

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

More chow chow recipes

Relish 49Pickle 25Pickles 16Tomato 9Cucumber 4Salad 3 See all 120 →

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