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French Mustard

A mustard-based condiment made with flour, cloves, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,067 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

French Mustard

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the mustard, flour, powdered cloves, and sugar.

  2. Add the vinegar and stir well until the mixture boils.

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 + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mustard + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,671 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mustard
Provides the sharp, pungent flavour that defines the dish.
Flour
Starch thickens the mixture as it heats, giving it body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and keeps the mustard tangy.
Powdered cloves
Adds warm aromatic spice notes.

The step that matters

Stir until the mixture boils. Flour starch only thickens fully once the mixture reaches boiling. Stirring constantly keeps the flour dispersed, preventing lumps and scorching on the base of the pan.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, flour, sugar, vinegar):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, flour, sugar, 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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