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Sauce

Grape Catsup

A sweet and spicy grape-based sauce made with grapes, sugar, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Grape and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,909 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Grape Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the grapes in ½ cup of water until soft.

  2. Strain the mixture to remove solids.

  3. Add 3 pounds of sugar, 1 pint of vinegar, 2 teaspoons of mixed spices, and 1 teaspoon of black pepper or cayenne to the strained liquid, then stir well to combine all ingredients.

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. Grape + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,909 recipes

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

  2. Grape + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,490 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Grapes
Provide the main fruit body and natural pectin, giving the ketchup its base flavor and body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, as it dissolves and thickens, helps preserve the ketchup.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the ketchup.
Mixed spices
Contribute aroma and warm flavor to the ketchup.

Swap the grape

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

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, 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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