Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓
Chili Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Scald and peel the tomatoes, then chop them into small pieces.
Press the tomatoes through a half-inch screen or run them through a coarse meat chopper.
Chop the bullnose peppers and add them to the tomatoes.
If the bullnose peppers are too mild, add a small amount of cayenne pepper.
Add the large sweet or Chinese peppers for richness and color.
Place the mixture in a granite-ware or enameled kettle.
Concentrate the mixture to 18 pounds.
Let the tomatoes stand for a few minutes to allow juice to separate.
Pour off the juice and add it to the kettle.
Cook the sauce
Add the cider vinegar and salt.
Concentrate the mixture further to 18½ pounds.
Add the sugar.
Boil slowly for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring to prevent burning.
Jar and sterilize
Pour the sauce into jars that have been washed in boiling water and seal while hot.
Place the sealed jars in a clothes boiler for about 30 minutes to sterilize.
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.
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Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,431 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,063 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body, acidity and bulk of the sauce as they cook down.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with the vinegar, helps preserve the sauce and balance its sharpness.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps keep the sauce stable in storage.
- Bullnose peppers
- Supply the main pepper flavor and gentle heat to the sauce.
- Large sweet or chinese peppers
- Add richness, body and color to the sauce.
The step that matters
Boil slowly while stirring. Sugar-rich sauces scorch easily on the bottom of a kettle, and scorched sugar gives a bitter taste. Constant stirring during the slow boil spreads heat evenly and prevents this.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cider, vinegar, sugar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cider, vinegar, sugar. 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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