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Lemon Catsup

A fermented lemon condiment made with salt, spices, vinegar, garlic, and lemons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Lemon Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the lemons.

  2. Add the sliced lemons and all other ingredients to a pot.

Cook and steep

  1. Let the mixture simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

  2. Transfer to a covered jar and stir every day for 7 to 8 weeks.

  3. After steeping, strain the mixture.

Bottle

  1. Bottle, cork, and seal the catsup.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Lemons
Supply the bright, acidic citrus flavor and aromatic oils that define the catsup.
Cider vinegar
Acts as the main liquid and preserving acid, extracting flavor and keeping the catsup stable.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture and helps preserve the mixture while seasoning it.
Garlic cloves
Add pungent, savory aroma that mellows during long steeping.

The step that matters

Sealing the catsup after straining. The vinegar and salt preserve the catsup only if the liquid is clean and the jar is tightly sealed. Sealing well keeps air and microbes out during storage.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, nutmeg, allspice, cider, vinegar, garlic, clove):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, nutmeg, allspice, cider, vinegar, garlic, clove. 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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