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Pepper Sauce

A vinegar-based sauce made with ripe and green peppers, onions, sugar, and mixed spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pepper Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine vinegar, ripe pepper, green pepper, and onions in a kettle.

  2. Boil until the mixture begins to break down.

  3. Strain through a colander, pressing thoroughly.

  4. Add sugar and mixed spices.

  5. Return to heat and cook until thickened to the consistency of ordinary ketchup.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

Vinegar
Provides the sharp acidity that defines the sauce and helps preserve it.
Onions
Add body and savory sweetness as they soften and break down into the sauce.
Sugar
Balances the vinegar's acidity and adds sweetness.

The step that matters

Cook until thickened to ketchup consistency. Thickening happens as water evaporates and the pulp reduces. Stopping too early leaves a thin sauce, while overcooking makes it stiff and can scorch the sugar on the bottom of the kettle.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, onion, sugar, clove, allspice, 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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