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Corn Relish

A pickled relish made from corn, peppers, celery, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Corn Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop all vegetables very fine.

Cook and jar

  1. Cook for 20 minutes, simmering without boiling.

  2. Rapidly bring to a boiling point and put in jars.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  3. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides the acidity that gives the relish its tang and helps preserve it.
Fresh corn
Supplies the main vegetable bulk and mild sweetness.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a tender-crisp texture after simmering.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.
Mustard
Adds a sharp, pungent flavor.
Ripe tomatoes
Adds moisture and body to the relish.

The step that matters

Simmering without boiling. Holding the mixture at a gentle simmer cooks the finely chopped vegetables evenly while they keep some texture. A hard rolling boil over 20 minutes can overcook them into mush and evaporate the vinegar unevenly, changing the balance of flavor.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Turmericfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, corn, pepper, cabbage, cucumber, sugar, mustard. 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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