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RElish for Cold Meats

A vinegar-based relish for cold meats made with onions, mustard, sugar, salt, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

RElish for Cold Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cover sliced onions with vinegar and let them stand for two days.

Make the relish

  1. Add mustard to thicken the mixture.

  2. Combine all ingredients in a pot.

  3. Pour vinegar over the mixture, mix well, and boil for five minutes.

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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Onions
Form the main body of the relish and provide its savoury, mellow flavour.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity and softens the onions during the long soak.
Mustard
Thickens the mixture and adds a sharp, pungent flavour.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat and a pungent, lingering spiciness.

The step that matters

Letting the onions stand for two days. Acid from the vinegar slowly penetrates the onion slices, softening their sharp raw bite and mellowing the flavour. Skipping or shortening this soak leaves the relish harsh and crunchy rather than tender and balanced.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Radishfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mustard, sugar, 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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