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Chutney Sauce

A sweet and tangy chutney sauce made with tamarind, apples, tomatoes, and various dried fruits, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Tamarind and ginger work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 325 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Chutney Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the chutney

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Jar and store

  1. Allow to cool before transferring to sterilized jars.

  2. Seal jars and store in a cool, dark place.

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. Tamarind + gingertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together325 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Tamarind + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Tamarind + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together395 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Tamarinds
Provides the sour, fruity acidity that gives the sauce its characteristic tang.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth, balancing the acidity of the vinegar and fruit.
Sultana raisins
Contribute sweetness and body as they soften during the long simmer.
Strong vinegar
Acts as the main liquid and provides acidity that helps preserve the sauce.
Minced apples
Break down during simmering to add pectin, body and mellow fruit flavour.

The step that matters

Simmer gently with occasional stirring. Once boiling, the heat must be lowered so the mixture thickens slowly without scorching on the bottom of the pot. Sugars and fruit solids burn easily, and stirring keeps the thick, sugary mixture from sticking and developing a bitter, burnt flavour.

Swap the medlar

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tamarind, apple, tomato, raisin, currant, garlic, ginger):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Medlarthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tamarind, apple, tomato, raisin, currant, garlic, ginger. 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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