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Celery Sauce

A sweet and spicy sauce made from green tomatoes, celery, onion, sugar, mustard, cinnamon, salt, red pepper, vinegar, and curry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Celery Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the green tomatoes, celery, and onion very finely.

Cook

  1. In a large pot, combine the chopped vegetables with sugar, mustard, cinnamon, salt, red pepper, vinegar, and curry.

  2. Boil the mixture until tender.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  5. Mustard + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,581 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Supply the bulk and tartness of the sauce as they soften during boiling.
Celery
Adds body and a fresh, savoury vegetable flavour once cooked soft.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and aroma as it softens in the pot.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and tomatoes.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the sauce.
Mustard
Adds a sharp, pungent note that complements the spices.

The step that matters

Boil until tender. Chopping very fine helps the vegetables soften evenly. The sugar-rich mixture can scorch on the base of the pot, so gentle heat and regular stirring keep it from catching while it reduces.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, sugar, mustard, cinnamon, pepper, 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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