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Dessert

Mango Chutney

A sweet and spicy mango chutney made with mangoes, almonds, currants, ginger, garlic, salt, sugar, raisins, chili pepper, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Mango Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the mangoes.

  2. Chop all ingredients finely except for the raisins and currants.

Cook

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Cook for 4 hours, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

Bottle and rest

  1. Put the chutney into bottles and seal.

  2. If possible, mix and let stand overnight before cooking.

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. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Mango + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together280 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  3. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Mango + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together471 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Green chutney mangoes
Form the bulk of the chutney and supply its fruity flavor as they cook down.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the chutney thicken and keep as the liquid reduces.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the chutney.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture that softens during the long cook.
Bleached almonds
Add nutty flavor and firmer bits of texture to the chopped mixture.

The step that matters

Cooking for 4 hours with frequent stirring. The mixture is rich in sugar and fruit, which scorches easily on the bottom of a pot. Frequent stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the chutney from burning while the liquid slowly evaporates and the flavors concentrate.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mango, almond, ginger, garlic, sugar, raisin, pepper):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mango, almond, ginger, garlic, sugar, raisin, pepper. 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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