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Chutney, Indian

A vinegar-based chutney of apples, onions, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chutney, Indian

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chutney

  1. Cook the apples, onions, and garlic with the salt, sugar, and vinegar until soft.

  2. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

  3. Add the raisins, ginger, cayenne, and mustard; mix well.

  4. Transfer to a jar and let it sit in a warm place overnight.

Bottle

  1. Fill dry, wide-necked bottles or jars with chutney and seal tightly to exclude air.

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. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

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

  5. Ginger + mustardtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,456 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

Sour apples
Provide tartness and pectin that help the chutney thicken as it cooks down.
Malt vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the chutney its sharp flavour and helps preserve it.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and body, balancing the acidity and the heat of the spices.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the finished chutney.
Onions
Add savoury bulk and sweetness as they soften during cooking.

The step that matters

Cook until soft, then sieve. The apples, onions, and garlic must be fully softened so the sieve can press them into a smooth purée; undercooked pieces will not pass through and leave a grainy texture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (malt, vinegar, apple, sugar, raisin, ginger, mustard):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against malt, vinegar, apple, sugar, raisin, ginger, 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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