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Walnut Catchup

A walnut-based condiment made by mashing walnut shells with spices and salt, then boiling and bottling the resulting liquid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Walnut Catchup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the walnut liquid

  1. Crack open walnut shells.

  2. Place the cracked shells in a tub.

  3. Mix the shells well with salt.

  4. Let the mixture sit for six days.

  5. Mash and beat the mixture frequently.

  6. Once the shells are soft, tilt the tub to drain the liquid into another container.

  7. Repeat mashing until no more liquid is found.

  8. Repeat draining until no more liquid is found, yielding about six quarts.

Boil and spice

  1. Boil the liquid in an iron boiler.

  2. Skim off any scum from the boiling liquid.

  3. Add the bruised ginger, allspice, long pepper, and cloves to the boiling liquid.

  4. Simmer the mixture for half an hour.

Bottle and store

  1. Bottle the mixture.

  2. Add an equal amount of spices to each bottle.

  3. Cork each bottle tightly.

  4. Seal each bottle.

  5. Store the sealed bottles in a cool, dry place for one year before using.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Walnut shells (in the method)
Release the liquid that forms the base of the ketchup as they soften in salt.
Salt
Draws liquid out of the walnut shells and helps preserve the mixture.
Ginger
Adds aromatic warmth and pungency to the finished liquid.
Cloves
Contribute aromatic, pungent flavour to the spiced liquid.

The step that matters

Skim off any scum from the boiling liquid.. Scum rising during boiling contains impurities and proteins that can cloud the liquid and spoil its flavour if left in. Removing it keeps the ketchup clear and clean-tasting before the spices go in.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (allspice, pepper, clove):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against allspice, pepper, clove. 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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