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Chow-chow

A pickled vegetable relish made with cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, celery, peppers, onions, tomatoes, vinegar, mustard, spices, cloves, and turmeric.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cauliflower and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 584 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil each vegetable separately until tender, then strain them.

Make the dressing

  1. In a kettle, combine vinegar and spices; bring to a boil.

Combine and serve

  1. Mix the boiled vegetables and pour the dressing over them.

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. Cauliflower + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Cabbage + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together305 recipes

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

  3. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  4. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  5. Celery + peppertop 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

Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the relish and gives it a firm, crisp texture when cooked.
Cauliflower
Adds bulk and a tender texture that soaks up the vinegar dressing.
Green tomatoes
Adds tartness and body, with acidity that balances the sweetness of the vegetables.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the vegetables and sharpens the overall flavor.
Mustard seed
Contributes a sharp, pungent flavor that spreads through the dressing.
Turmeric
Gives the relish its yellow color and a warm, earthy aroma.

The step that matters

Boil each vegetable separately until tender. Cooking each vegetable on its own lets you judge tenderness per type, since denser vegetables need longer. Draining well keeps excess water from diluting the vinegar dressing.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Broccolifits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, celery, pepper, tomato, vinegar. 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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Relish 49Pickle 25Pickles 16Tomato 9Cucumber 4Salad 3 See all 120 →

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