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Chow Chow

A preserved tomato and onion relish flavored with sugar, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice 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 ↓

Chow Chow

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chop the tomatoes and onions.

  2. Combine all ingredients in a large pot and add enough vinegar to cover the mixture.

  3. Cook on low heat all day, stirring occasionally.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cassia + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together194 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Clove + peppertop 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

Tomatoes
Provide the bulk of the relish and release moisture that combines with the vinegar and sugar during cooking.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma that mellows as the mixture cooks slowly.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the acidity of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that brightens the flavor and helps preserve the cooked mixture.

The step that matters

Cook on low heat all day, stirring occasionally. Slow, gentle cooking lets the tomatoes break down and the sugar and vinegar meld into a thick, cohesive relish. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot, where sugar can burn if the heat is too high.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, cassia, clove, allspice, mustard, pepper. 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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