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Paste for Chow-chow

A mustard-based paste used as a condiment for chow-chow.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,279 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Paste for Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

  1. In a bowl, combine mustard, turmeric, brown sugar, and flour.

  2. Stir in a little cold vinegar to form a paste.

Finish the sauce

  1. In a large pot, bring 2 quarts of vinegar to a boil.

  2. Stir the paste into the boiling vinegar until smooth.

  3. Pour the mixture over the chow-chow and stir until well mixed.

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. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Turmeric + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,637 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Mustard
Provides the main sharp, pungent flavor of the paste.
Turmeric
Gives the paste its characteristic yellow color and earthy aroma.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the vinegar.
Flour
Thickens the paste so it coats the chow-chow.
Vinegar
Provides acidity and the liquid base that carries the flavors.

The step that matters

Stirring the paste into the boiling vinegar. Flour clumps easily if added to hot liquid without first being smoothed in cold vinegar. Stirring steadily while adding the paste helps it disperse evenly, so the sauce thickens smoothly instead of lumpy.

Swap the turmeric

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, sugar, flour, vinegar):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Turmericthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, sugar, flour, 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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