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 ↓
Made Mustard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mustard
In a bowl, mix flour, dry mustard, sugar, and turmeric with a little cold vinegar.
Add the remaining vinegar and cook in a double boiler, stirring constantly until it thickens.
If the mixture becomes too thick, add a little more vinegar and salt to taste.
Store
Transfer to bottles for storage.
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.
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Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,279 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + turmerictop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,637 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Vinegar
- Provides the liquid base and the sharp acidity that gives mustard its tang.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture as it cooks, giving the mustard its body.
- Dry mustard
- Supplies the main mustard flavour and pungency.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.
- Turmeric
- Adds yellow colour to the mustard.
The step that matters
Stirring while the mixture cooks. Flour thickens only when heated with liquid, and it can scorch or form lumps on the bottom of the pan if not stirred constantly. Cooking gently in a double boiler and stirring steadily keeps the texture smooth.
Swap the turmeric
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, flour, sugar, mustard):
- Capersfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Turmericthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, flour, sugar, mustard. 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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