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Sauce

Chutney Sauce

A vinegar-based sauce with mustard, raisins, tomatoes, chili peppers, brown sugar, ginger, onions, apples, and garlic.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chutney Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Boil for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

  3. Do not peel any ingredients except for the onions.

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. Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  5. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 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 sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and keeps the chutney tangy.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and deep flavor, and helps thicken the chutney as it cooks down.
Tomatoes
Contribute moisture and body, breaking down into the thick base of the sauce.
Apples
Add pectin and soft texture, helping the chutney set as it simmers.
Raisins
Contribute chewy texture and concentrated sweetness as they soften in the liquid.
Onions
Add savory depth and body that softens into the sauce during long cooking.

The step that matters

Boil for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. A long simmer concentrates sugars and thickens the mixture, which can scorch on the bottom of the pot. Regular stirring prevents sticking and uneven cooking.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mustard, tomato, pepper, sugar, ginger, onion. 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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