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Chili Sauce

A tomato-based sauce with onions, peppers, spices, sugar, salt, and vinegar, simmered for 2–3 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Chili Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel the tomatoes and onions.

  2. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces.

  3. Finely chop the onions and peppers.

  4. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot. If the vinegar is strong, dilute it with water.

Cook

  1. Heat gradually to boiling point.

  2. Cook slowly for 2 to 3 hours, stirring frequently.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes (in the method)
Break down into the body of the sauce, adding moisture and a fresh, sharp flavour.
Onions
Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften during the long cook.
Green peppers
Contribute a grassy, slightly bitter note and body to the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the sauce.
Brown sugar
Balances the acidity with sweetness and adds a deeper, caramel-like flavour.

The step that matters

Cook slowly for 2 to 3 hours, stirring frequently. Gentle, prolonged simmering lets the vegetables break down and the liquid reduce into a thick sauce. Heating too fast or leaving it unstirred can scorch the sugars and sticks on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, clove, cinnamon, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, clove, cinnamon, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, sugar. 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.

More chili sauce recipes

Tomato 14Green Tomato 4Raw 3Sweet 3 See all 392 →

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