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Sauce

Sweet Chili Sauce with Celeey

A sweet chili sauce made with tomatoes, celery, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, spices, pepper, and mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Sweet Chili Sauce with Celeey

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the bulk and body of the sauce as they break down during cooking.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the flavour.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the sauce darken and thicken as it cooks.
Celery
Contributes savoury vegetable flavour and body to the sauce.
Whole mixed spices
Infuse the sauce with aromatic warmth as they steep during simmering.

The step that matters

Simmering for at least 1 hour. Stir regularly so sugar and tomato solids do not scorch on the base of the pot. A long, gentle simmer evaporates excess water, letting the sauce thicken and the spices release their flavour.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, vinegar, sugar, pepper, mustard. 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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