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 ↓
Tomato Relish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the vegetables
Scald, skin, and chop the tomatoes.
Chop the onions, red peppers, and celery, then mix everything together.
Place the mixture in a bag and drain overnight.
Make and seal the relish
Boil the vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, and salt together.
Pour the hot mixture over the drained vegetables, then bottle and seal.
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.
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Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Form the bulk of the relish and provide its main body and flavour.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the relish.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity and sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
- Onions
- Add savoury depth and pungent flavour as they soften in the mixture.
- Mustard seed
- Contributes a sharp, pungent aroma and a bit of bite.
The step that matters
Draining the vegetables overnight. Salting and draining pull water out of the chopped vegetables. If they are not drained well, excess liquid dilutes the hot vinegar mixture, leaving the relish thin and less well preserved.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, celery, vinegar, sugar, mustard):
- Capsicumfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, celery, vinegar, sugar, 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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