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Dessert

A Veey Good Chutney

A chutney made from apples, onions, raisins, tomatoes, ginger, and spices, simmered in vinegar and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

A Veey Good Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. Chop all ingredients finely and combine in a stew-pan.

  2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently for one hour.

Bottle

  1. Once cooled, transfer to bottles or jars and seal tightly, using bladder if possible.

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

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

  4. Ginger + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

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

  5. Ginger + appletop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,424 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

Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and body, and helps preserve the chutney as it thickens.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the chutney.
Apples
Release pectin as they simmer, helping the chutney thicken to a spoonable texture.
Onions
Soften during simmering, adding savoury depth and bulk to the chutney.
Tomatoes
Break down during simmering, contributing moisture and body to the chutney.

The step that matters

Cool before bottling. Filling jars while the chutney is still hot traps steam, which can cause condensation and spoilage. Letting it cool first helps the seal stay reliable.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Cherryfits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, ginger, apple, vinegar, onion, mustard, tomato. 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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