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Tomato Chutney

A sweet and savory tomato chutney made with tomatoes, dried peaches, raisins, brown sugar, sea salt, and onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the tomatoes, dried peaches, and onions.

Cook

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened.

Jar

  1. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

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. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peachtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Peach + raisintop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,308 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 bulk and moisture that cook down into the chutney's body.
Dried peaches
Add concentrated fruit sweetness and chewy texture as they soften during cooking.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture as they soften in the pot.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture thicken and turn glossy as it cooks down.
Onions
Add savory depth and body that becomes soft and blended into the chutney.

The step that matters

Cooking until thickened. Stirring frequently over medium heat keeps the sugars from scorching on the bottom of the pot, while the long simmer drives off water so the chutney sets to a spoonable thickness.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, peach, raisin, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, peach, raisin, 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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