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Curry Powder

A blend of ginger, mustard, black pepper, coriander seed, turmeric, cayenne pepper, cardamom, cumin seed, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Turmeric and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Curry Powder

Ingredients

Directions

Make the powder

  1. Mix all the ingredients together.

  2. Pound the mixture very fine.

  3. Sift the mixture to remove any larger particles.

Store

  1. Store the curry powder in a tightly corked bottle.

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. Turmeric + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,698 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Turmeric + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together667 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cardamom + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,299 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Turmeric
Gives the powder its yellow colour and an earthy, slightly bitter flavour.
Coriander seed
Adds a citrusy, floral aroma and makes up much of the powder's body.
Cumin seed
Contributes a warm, earthy aroma that defines the blend.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, biting heat to the blend.
Cinnamon
Adds sweet, woody warmth to the aroma.
Ginger
Adds peppery, citrusy warmth.

The step that matters

Pound the mixture very fine. Grinding to a fine powder increases the surface area of the spices, releasing their aromatic oils and helping the blend mix evenly. Coarse pieces leave pockets of uneven flavour.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, pepper, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cumin, cinnamon):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, pepper, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cumin, cinnamon. 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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