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Pepper Hash

A pickled pepper and onion mixture simmered with vinegar, sugar, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pepper Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Grind and mix the peppers and onions.

  2. Cover with boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes.

  3. Drain and cover again with boiling water.

  4. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let stand for another 10 minutes.

  5. Drain thoroughly, removing as much water as possible.

Cook

  1. Add vinegar, sugar, and salt.

  2. Place on the fire and cook like a sauce, stirring well.

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 + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Pepper and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Green bell peppers
Provide the bulk of the chopped vegetable base and mild pepper flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the finished relish.
Sugar
Balances the acidity and adds sweetness while helping the mixture thicken as it cooks.
Onions
Add savory depth and aromatic flavor to the vegetable base.
Ripe peppers
Contribute sweetness and color to the finished mixture.

The step that matters

Drain thoroughly, removing as much water as possible.. Leftover water dilutes the vinegar and sugar, so the mixture cooks down more slowly and may turn out thin and less concentrated.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, sugar. 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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