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Tantalizing Hot and Spicy Cheese Ball

A cheese ball made with cream cheese, cheddar, jalapeno relish, and pecans, served with crackers or chips.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream cheese and cheddar cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 467 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Tantalizing Hot and Spicy Cheese Ball

Time20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the relish

  1. Combine vinegar and sugar in a large saucepan and mix until all of the sugar is dissolved.

  2. Slice jalapenos, onions and carrots into thin strips.

  3. Add jalapenos, onions and carrots to the saucepan with the dissolved sugar and bring to a boil.

  4. Add mustard and dill seeds and simmer for 20 minutes.

  5. Let relish cool.

Form and coat the cheese ball

  1. Mix relish, cheddar cheese and cream cheese together until well combined.

  2. Chill at least 1 hour.

  3. Place the mixture on plastic wrap and form into a ball.

  4. Roll the ball in chopped pecans.

Serve

  1. Serve with crackers or chips.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

544Calories
14 gProtein
41 gFat
37 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pecans1 oz (28g / ~19 halves)196
Cheddar Cheese1 oz (28g)113
Cream Cheese1 oz (28g)99
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Dill Seed5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Relishnot in our table0
Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Cream cheese + cheddar cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together467 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Cream cheese + pecanstop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together465 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Cheddar cheese + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,669 recipes

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

  5. Jalapeno + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,250 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

Cream cheese
Provides the creamy, soft body that holds the cheese ball together.
Sugar
Dissolves into the vinegar to sweeten and balance the relish's sharpness.
Apple cider vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the relish its tang and helps preserve it.
Cheddar cheese
Adds sharp flavor and firmness to the cheese mixture.
Pecans
Add crunch and toasty flavor to the outside of the ball.

The step that matters

Let the relish cool before mixing. Adding warm relish to the cream cheese would soften and loosen it, making the ball hard to shape and chill firm.

Swap the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (jalapeno, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, sugar, apple cider vinegar, onion, carrot):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Cashew nutfits better
  4. Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jalapeno, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, sugar, apple cider vinegar, onion, carrot. 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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