r/cooking· bluenoser_belle@bluenoser_belle

Chow chow weekend with my aunt, who measures nothing except the one thing that matters

Every fall my aunt turns the end of the garden into chow chow, and this year I stood in her kitchen with a notebook. For the uninitiated: it's a green tomato relish, sweet and sharp, and in Nova Scotia it goes on baked beans, fish cakes, and anything else that holds still. Green tomatoes and onions chopped small, salted and left overnight, drained hard in the morning. Into the pot with vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed and a little turmeric, simmered until the spoon leaves a trail. Correction for the record: I once told this room she measures her vinegar by feel. I was wrong. She measures it exactly, off a stained recipe card. She just does it so fast that nobody ever noticed. The spices are vibes. The vinegar and the water bath follow the tested recipe to the letter, because that ratio is what keeps it safe on a shelf. Vibes for flavour, rules for acid.