Name: Chili Sauce
Ingredients: three cups vinegar; two tablespoons sugar; two tablespoons cinnamon; two tablespoons cloves; four onions; four red pep- pers; one green pepper

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Chili Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Combine tomatoes, onions, red peppers, green pepper, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves.
Boil for one hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

140Calories

2 gProtein

1 gFat

32 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3

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

By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Cinnamon + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,890 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar: Provides acidity that gives the sauce its tang and helps preserve it.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Onions: Contribute moisture and savory body as they soften during cooking.
Red peppers: Add body, sweetness and flavor to the sauce as they cook down.
Cinnamon: Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the sauce.
Cloves: Adds strong, aromatic spice flavor to the sauce.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Mustardfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, pepper. 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.