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Chow-Chow

A pickled vegetable relish made with corn, beans, peppers, cabbage, onions, cauliflower, green tomatoes, vinegar, mustard, cornstarch, sugar, and celery seed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Lima beans and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 156 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Chow-Chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Parboil the corn, lima beans, and string beans.

  2. Chop the peppers, cabbage, small onions, cauliflower, and green tomatoes.

Cook and jar

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Boil together for one hour.

  3. Pour into jars while hot.

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. Lima beans + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together156 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Cabbage + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Beans + cauliflowertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together290 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Corn + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the relish and gives it its tangy flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
Cornstarch
Thickens the cooking liquid so the relish holds together rather than running thin.
Green tomatoes
Add bulk and a tart, firm texture that holds up through long boiling.
Mustard
Adds sharp flavor and aroma that complements the vinegar and sugar.

The step that matters

Boil together for one hour. The mixture must simmer long enough for the vegetables to soften and the cornstarch to fully thicken the liquid. Keeping the vinegar at a steady boil also helps the relish reach the acidity needed for safe preserving.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, lima beans, beans, pepper, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato):

  1. Okrafits better
  2. Broccolifits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, lima beans, beans, pepper, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato. 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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