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Omaha Chili Sauce

A tomato-based chili sauce with onions, peppers, sugar, vinegar, salt, and mixed spice, cooked until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Omaha Chili Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and quarter the tomatoes.

  2. Peel the onions and seed the peppers.

  3. Run the tomatoes, onions, and peppers through a food chopper.

  4. Tie the mixed spice in a small cloth sack.

Cook and bottle

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot and cook until thick.

  2. Bottle the sauce.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ripe tomatoes
Provides the main body, moisture, and tangy flavor that cooks down into the sauce.
Onions
Adds savory depth and aroma, and softens into the sauce as it cooks.
Red peppers
Contributes mild sweetness, color, and fresh vegetable flavor to the sauce.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the vinegar and helps give the sauce a thick, glossy body.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook until thick. Long simmering evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and tomato solids, so the sauce thickens. Stopping too early leaves it thin, while too much heat can scorch the sugar on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, sugar, 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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