Skip to main content
Main

Raisin Relish

A relish of apples, raisins, sugar, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Mustard and celery 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 ↓

Raisin Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel, core, and chop the apples.

Cook

  1. Add all other ingredients and boil for 30 minutes.

  2. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  4. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the bulk and body of the relish as they soften during cooking.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness as they soften and absorb liquid.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and deep flavor, and helps thicken the mixture as it cooks down.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the sugar and fruit.
Mustard seed
Contributes a pungent, sharp flavor that develops during simmering.
Ground or grated ginger
Adds warm, aromatic spice that carries through the long simmer.

The step that matters

Stir occasionally while boiling. As water evaporates, the sugar and fruit become concentrated and thick, and they can scorch on the bottom of the pot. Regular stirring keeps the mixture from sticking and burning during the 30-minute boil.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, celery, ginger, pepper, onion, sugar, 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.

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesApple SoupApple Soup33 recipesCelery StewCelery Stew25 recipesCelery CroquettesCelery Croquettes16 recipes