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Curry Powder

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

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

Prepare

  1. Pound all ingredients very fine in a mortar.

  2. 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 earthy, slightly bitter flavour.
Coriander seeds
Provide a citrusy, floral aroma that forms the base of the blend.
Black pepper
Adds sharp pungency from piperine, giving warmth without heat.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat from capsaicin, which is fat-soluble and lingers on the palate.
Ginger
Contributes a warm, peppery, aromatic note to the blend.
Cumin seeds
Add a toasty, earthy aroma that gives curry its characteristic depth.

The step that matters

Pound all ingredients very fine. Finer particles release aroma and spread evenly through the blend, so no bite of raw spice stands out. Coarse pieces give uneven flavour, and sifting removes the larger ones that the pounding leaves behind.

Swap the mustard

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

  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, cinnamon, cumin. 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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