Name: Bright Red Chili Sauce
Ingredients: 5 cups vinegar; 3 tablespoons salt; 10 tablespoons sugar; 18 ripe tomatoes; 6 large onions; 4 red pei

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 ↓

Bright Red Chili Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Chop onions and peppers finely.
Boil tomatoes.
Put through a colander.

Cook

Mix all together.
Boil for one hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

118Calories

2 gProtein

0 gFat

28 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. 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.

Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vinegar + tomatotop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,063 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + tomatotop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,667 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 and liquid base of the sauce.
Onions: Add savoury flavour and body as they soften during cooking.
Red peppers: Add heat and fresh, sharp flavour to the sauce.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that gives the sauce its tang.
Sugar: Balances the acidity and adds sweetness.

The step that matters

Boil for one hour. Long boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sauce, so it thickens and its flavours deepen. Stopping early leaves it thin, while uneven heat can scorch the bottom of the pan.

Swap the tomato

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

Mustardfits better
Cucumberfits better
Capsicumfits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, onion. 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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Bright Red Chili Sauce