Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Chili Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cover the red peppers with boiling water and cook for 30 minutes.
Mash the peppers finely and, when cool, remove the skins by hand.
Add a little coarse sea salt, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, and chopped onions; stir all together.
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.
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Red peppers
- Form the main body of the sauce and carry most of its flavour.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharpness that balances the sweetness of the cooked peppers.
- Chopped onions
- Add savoury aroma and a bit of bite to the sauce.
The step that matters
Removing the skins by hand. Cooking the peppers in boiling water softens the skins so they can be peeled off. Letting them cool first makes them easier to handle and keeps the flesh intact.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Cabbagefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, 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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