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Paste for Chow-chow

A mustard-based paste mixed with vinegar, 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 the mustard, turmeric, brown sugar, and flour.

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

Finish the sauce

  1. Gradually stir the paste into 2 quarts of boiling vinegar until smooth.

  2. 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
Supplies the sharp, pungent flavor that defines the paste.
Turmeric
Gives the paste its bright yellow colour.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
Flour
Thickens the liquid as its starch swells, giving the paste body.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens the flavor and gives the paste its tang.

The step that matters

Gradually stirring the paste into the boiling vinegar. Flour clumps if it meets hot liquid all at once. Blending it into cold vinegar first and adding it gradually lets the starch disperse evenly, so the mixture cooks smooth rather than 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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