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Sauce

Lorene Fox Wagner

A green pepper, cabbage, and onion sauce seasoned with turmeric, mustard seed, and spices, boiled and jarred.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Snyder, Annie Iaeger · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard 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 ↓

Lorene Fox Wagner

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the vegetables

  1. Combine two quarts green peppers, 2 small heads cabbage, 5 small onions, 2 sweet red peppers, 2-3 tablespoons turmeric, 2-3 tablespoons mustard seed, 2 tablespoons salt, 1 cup sugar, and 1 quart vinegar.

  2. Boil for 20 minutes.

  3. Put in jars.

Add the tomato mixture and finish

  1. Combine 25 tomatoes, 10 onions, 4 green peppers, and 1 bunch celery.

  2. Add 1 gallon vinegar, 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon each of cloves, mace, allspice, and cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon salt.

  3. Boil for 2 hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

200Calories
7 gProtein
2 gFat
45 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot in our table0
Macenot 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.

By Snyder, Annie Iaeger. 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.

  1. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  3. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

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 sharp tang and helps preserve it.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and body, becoming tender as it simmers.
Tomatoes
Contribute moisture and body, helping the sauce cook into a thick mixture.
Onions
Add savory depth and sweetness as they soften during long cooking.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Mustard seed
Adds a pungent, sharp flavor that stands out against the sweet and sour base.

The step that matters

Boil for 2 hours. Long simmering evaporates liquid and thickens the sauce, but without stirring the bottom can scorch and the flavor turns bitter. Heat should stay steady, not rapid.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Broccolifits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

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