Chow chow relish substitutes

This is not a substitute so much as chow chow made without the canner. Bring the brine to a boil, pour it over the salted and drained vegetables, cool and refrigerate. It tastes like the real thing - sweet-sour, mustardy, faintly earthy from the turmeric, with the cabbage still crisp. Against a long-canned jar it is brighter and crunchier and slightly less mellow, because months in the jar soften both the texture and the vinegar bite. Best after 24 hours.

Best for

pinto beans and black-eyed peas, collard, turnip and mustard greens, cornbread and hoecakes, hot dogs and pulled pork, fried fish and catfish

This version is refrigerator relish only and is not shelf-stable - keep it cold and eat it within two to three weeks. Add a chopped jalapeno or a teaspoon of red pepper flakes for a hot chow chow. If you want it shelf-stable in a pantry, do not adapt this recipe; use a tested canning recipe exactly as written.

The nearest ready-made match, because these are cousins rather than lookalikes - British piccalilli, Pennsylvania Dutch mustard pickle and Southern chow chow all share the same turmeric-and-mustard-seed sweet-sour brine. What changes is the balance and the body: piccalilli is far more mustard-forward and often thickened with flour or cornstarch, so it is a thick yellow sauce clinging to vegetable pieces rather than a loose crunchy relish, and it usually contains cauliflower and gherkin rather than cabbage. Over beans and greens it does the identical job.

Best for

pinto beans and greens, cold cuts, ham and pork pie, cheese and crackers, hot dogs

If it is very thick, stir in a teaspoon of cider vinegar per quarter cup to loosen it, which also brightens the flavour. Chop any large cauliflower florets down to relish size. Piccalilli is usually less sweet than Southern sweet chow chow, so a pinch of sugar closes the gap if you are used to the sweet style.

The realistic emergency swap, since almost every fridge has a jar. Unadjusted it is noticeably different - all cucumber, considerably sweeter, and soft rather than crunchy, so you lose both the cabbage texture and the whole mustard-turmeric spice character that makes chow chow taste like chow chow. The three additions above genuinely fix most of that, and over a bowl of beans the result is close enough that a Southern cook would recognise what you were going for. It will still be softer.

Best for

beans, peas and greens, hot dogs and sausages, potato salad and deviled eggs, when the shops are shut

Drain off some of the syrupy liquid before you start, or the result is cloyingly sweet. Use sweet relish rather than dill relish - dill relish is sharper and has no sugar, so it reads as tartar sauce rather than chow chow. If you have whole sweet pickles instead, chop them fine and add a spoonful of their brine.

Salvadoran curtido, or any quick-pickled cabbage slaw with carrot, onion and oregano, gets the two most important things right: shredded cabbage crunch and clean vinegar acidity. What is absent is the sugar and the mustard-seed and turmeric spicing, so it tastes fresher, sharper and much more like a slaw than a preserve. Over rich pinto beans that freshness works well. On cornbread, where you want the sweet-sour jamminess, it is the wrong note.

Best for

pinto beans, black beans and greens, pork and pulled pork, tacos and sandwiches, anything fried

Squeeze it out well, or the brine floods the plate. A teaspoon of sugar and a pinch each of turmeric and mustard powder stirred through takes it a long way toward chow chow in about ten seconds. Curtido made with Mexican oregano tastes distinctly herbal, so use less of it if you want to stay in a Southern register.

A departure that works better than it sounds, because it does the actual job. The sourness comes from fermentation rather than a vinegar brine, and there is no sugar at all, so it tastes sharply sour and salty rather than sweet-sour, and it has a faint funk that chow chow does not. Over pinto beans or a plate of greens that is a legitimate and satisfying combination. On cornbread it is odd. Kimchi goes further still, adding chilli heat and a fermented seafood depth, but it is cutting the same richness in the same way.

Best for

pinto beans and black-eyed peas, greens and pork, hot dogs and sausages, when there is no relish but there is a jar of kraut

Squeeze it dry and chop it small, since long strands of kraut eat quite differently from a fine relish. A half teaspoon of sugar per half cup pushes it toward the sweet-sour register chow chow occupies and makes the swap much less noticeable. Rinse it briefly if it is very salty.

Italian pickled cauliflower, carrot, celery and pepper, and structurally the right idea - crisp vegetables in an acidic brine. The differences are oil and herbs: many brands are oil-packed, which makes the relish richer and slicker on the tongue rather than clean and sharp, and the oregano and garlic push it clearly Italian. Hot giardiniera is also considerably spicier than most chow chow. Drained well and chopped small it is a good relish for beans; it just does not taste Southern.

Best for

beans and greens, sandwiches and Italian beef, cheese boards, hot dogs

Drain it thoroughly and, if it is oil-packed, rinse it briefly in cold water or the oil will pool on the plate. Buy or use the mild version unless you want real heat. A pinch of sugar and a pinch of turmeric shift it toward chow chow, though the oregano will still be audible.

The honest last resort, and it deserves a place here because it does most of the real work. What chow chow contributes to a bowl of beans or greens is, above everything else, acidity to cut through soft, fatty, salty food. A splash of cider vinegar, or the vinegar from a bottle of pickled peppers, delivers that immediately. What it cannot deliver is crunch, sweetness or the mustard-and-turmeric spice, so the plate is refreshed but not garnished. Southern cooks use pepper vinegar this way all the time and consider it a legitimate choice, not a compromise.

Best for

collards, turnip greens and mustard greens, pinto beans and field peas, when there is nothing pickled in the house

Add it at the table, not in the pot, so each person can adjust. A pinch of sugar alongside gets you closer to chow chow's sweet-sour balance. Cider vinegar is the traditional choice and has a softer apple tartness than distilled white vinegar, which tastes harsher in this role.