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A pickled relish made from green tomatoes, apples, onions, brown sugar, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chow-chow

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the green tomatoes and sprinkle with 1 cup of coarse sea salt. Let stand overnight.

  2. Drain off the brine and add the chopped onions and apples.

Cook

  1. Place the mixture in a kettle with the brown sugar and spices.

  2. Cover with 2 quarts of malt vinegar and cook until tender.

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

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

  2. Tomato + appletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together548 recipes

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

  3. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

  5. Apple + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together865 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Form the bulk of the relish and hold their shape as they cook down.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the tomatoes so the finished relish is firmer and less watery.
Apples
Add pectin and tartness that help thicken the relish and balance the sweetness.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and its molasses flavour deepens the relish.
Malt vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the relish and sharpens its flavour.

The step that matters

Cook until tender. The relish is done only when the tomatoes and onions have softened fully. Undercooked vegetables stay firm and sharp, while long cooking in vinegar and sugar reduces the liquid and concentrates the flavour.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

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