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Dessert

Apple Catsup

Apple catsup is a preserved apple condiment made with vinegar, sugar, spices, and onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Apple Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Pare and quarter the apples, then cook them in very little water until soft.

  2. Pulp the cooked apples through a sieve.

Make and seal the ketchup

  1. For each quart of pulp, mix in 2 cups vinegar, 2 chopped onions, 1 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon cloves, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt.

  2. Boil the mixture for 1 hour.

  3. Pour into jars and seal tightly.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Tart apples
Provide the bulk of the pulp, supplying natural pectin for body and tartness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the finished ketchup.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar and tartness of the apples.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and aroma as they cook down into the sauce.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture for 1 hour. Long simmering reduces the water and thickens the pulp into a spreadable sauce. Stopping early leaves it thin and less stable on the shelf, so the boil should run its full time.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, mustard, clove, pepper):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Radishfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, mustard, clove, pepper. 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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