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Chow-chow

A pickled vegetable relish made with cauliflower, cucumbers, mustard, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 the vegetables

  1. Cut the cauliflower and cucumbers into small, even pieces.

  2. Soak the vegetables in brine for 24 hours.

  3. Drain the vegetables in a colander for 1-2 hours.

Cook and pack

  1. In a kettle, combine the vegetables with vinegar that has been boiled with celery seed for 20 minutes and strained.

  2. Simmer the mixture with spices until the vegetables are tender, stirring constantly.

  3. Pack the mixture into wide-mouthed jars and seal tightly.

  4. Optionally, add a piece of alum the size of a hickory nut to each jar to keep the pickle firm.

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. Cauliflower + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together514 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Cauliflower + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Provides the main bulk and firm, crisp texture of the pickle.
Cucumbers
Adds crisp texture and fresh body to the mixed pickled vegetables.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the vegetables and gives the pickle its sharp tang.
Turmeric
Gives the pickle its characteristic yellow colour and an earthy aroma.
Mixed english mustard
Adds pungent heat and flavour that carries through the simmered mixture.
Alum
Helps the pickled vegetables stay firm in the jar.

The step that matters

Simmering until tender. Simmering must be stopped once the vegetables are just tender, because prolonged heat softens them into mush and dulls their crispness. Stirring constantly prevents the spiced mixture from scorching on the bottom of the kettle.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, cucumber, mustard, pepper, turmeric, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, cucumber, mustard, pepper, turmeric, 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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