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Corn Relish

A boiled relish of corn, onions, peppers, cabbage, sugar, salt, mustard, celery seed, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery 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 ↓

Corn Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the corn off the ears.

  2. Chop the onions, peppers, and cabbage.

Cook

  1. Combine all ingredients in a pot.

  2. Boil for 30 minutes.

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.

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

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

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

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

  5. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 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

Cider vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that gives the relish its tang and helps preserve it.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar's sharpness and helps the relish thicken as it cooks.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a crisp, fresh texture that softens during cooking.
Corn
Adds sweet flavour and tender kernels to the relish.
Onions
Contribute savoury aroma and depth of flavour when cooked.
White mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavour that mellows as the relish cooks.

The step that matters

Boil for 30 minutes. The mixture must reach and hold a steady boil so the raw vegetables soften fully and the vinegar and sugar blend into a cohesive relish. Under-cooking leaves crunchy, raw-tasting cabbage and onion, and a weak boil may not fully soften the vegetables.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, pepper, cabbage, sugar, mustard, celery, cider. 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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