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Chutney Sauce

A sweet and spicy chutney made with tomatoes, apples, onions, raisins, peppers, ginger, sugar, salt, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chutney Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop tomatoes, apples, onions, and peppers.

Cook

  1. In a large pot, combine all ingredients: tomatoes, apples, onions, raisins, brown sugar, peppers, ground ginger, red pepper, salt, and vinegar.

  2. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

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

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

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

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

  3. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

  4. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

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

  5. Apple + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,424 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

Tomatoes
Provide bulk and moisture that cook down into the body of the chutney.
Apples
Add pectin and body, helping the chutney thicken as it simmers.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps create a thick, glossy texture as the mixture reduces.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the chutney.
Onions
Add savoury depth and body as they soften during simmering.

The step that matters

Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Long, gentle simmering lets water evaporate and the fruit and sugar concentrate into a thick chutney. Stirring prevents the sugars and solids from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Mangofits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, apple, onion, sugar, pepper, ginger, 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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