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Chili Relish

A spicy relish made from ground green peppers and onions simmered in vinegar with salt and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,890 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Chili Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grind the green peppers and onions.

Cook and seal

  1. Add the ground vegetables to boiling vinegar and spices.

  2. Boil for 1.5 to 2 hours, adding more vinegar if it boils dry.

  3. Seal while hot.

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 + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

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

  3. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

  5. Onion + cinnamontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,150 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

Green peppers
Provide the bulk of the relish and a fresh, slightly bitter vegetal flavor.
White onions
Soften during the long boil and add sweetness and savoury depth.
Vinegar
Provides sharp acidity and the liquid that cooks and preserves the vegetables.
Cinnamon
Adds warm aroma and a sweet spice note.

The step that matters

Keep the vegetables covered in boiling vinegar during the long boil. If the mixture boils dry, the vegetables are no longer held in acidic liquid, which affects both flavour and how well the relish keeps. Adding more vinegar as needed keeps everything submerged and evenly cooked.

Swap the cinnamon

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, onion, 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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