Name: How We Cook in Tennessee
Ingredients: one-half gallons damsons to one gallon sugar; one tablespoon each cloves; one-half pints good vinegar; seven pounds brown sugar; one tablespoon each of cloves; two cups vine- gar; one teaspoonful ground ginger; one teaspoonful white pepper; three teaspoons mustard; one teaspoon whole cloves; three teaspoons cinnamon; one teaspoon whole allspice; half pound sugar; quarter pound salt; half ounce of spice; quarter pound mustard; half ounce black pepper; one-eighth ounce of cayenne pepper; one pint vinegar; a small piece of alum to the vinegar; a piece of cheese cloth; one peck damsons; one peck tomatoes; six red peppers; six large onions chopped fine; three tablespoonsful salt; one peck ripe tomatoes chopped; six onions; one table- spoonful each of salt; cinnamon

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,536 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and helps thicken the cooked fruit as it reduces.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that preserves the pickled peppers and sharpens the flavour.
Green tomatoes: Provide the bulk and body of the relish as they soften during cooking.
Damsons: Provide the fruit base and tartness that sets as the mixture cooks thick.

The step that matters

Pour boiling brine and vinegar over the peppers. The liquid must stay very hot, and be renewed daily, so the peppers are properly brined and the vinegar can preserve them. Weak or cooling liquid lets spoilage start.

Swap the white pepper

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

Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits better
Turmericfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, clove, vinegar, ginger, mustard, cinnamon, allspice. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Allspice	1 tsp ground (1.9g)	5
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Mace	not in our table	0

How We Cook in Tennessee