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Cucumber Catsup

A cucumber-based condiment made with cucumbers, onions, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cucumber Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Soak the cucumbers in cold water for 1 hour.

  2. Peel and grate the cucumbers.

  3. Grate the onions and mix with the cucumbers.

Season and jar

  1. Season with red and black pepper, celery seed, and vinegar.

  2. Adjust the mixture to a jam-like consistency.

  3. Transfer to a glass jar and cover with 3 pints of vinegar.

  4. Add salt and 3 tablespoons of black pepper.

  5. Seal the jar tightly to keep out air.

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

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cucumber + celerytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,745 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Make up the bulk of the catsup, giving it its main body and fresh vegetable flavor.
Onions
Add pungent, savory flavor that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Acts as the preservative and provides the sharp acidity that gives the catsup its tang.

The step that matters

Seal the jar tightly to keep out air. Air exposure lets spoilage microbes and oxidation take hold. A tight seal keeps the catsup protected and helps it keep its flavor and color.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, pepper, celery, vinegar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, pepper, celery, vinegar. 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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