Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chili Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the skin from the tomatoes and slice them.
Chop the green pepper and onions.
Make the sauce
In a pot, combine the tomatoes, green pepper, onions, vinegar, sugar, ground mustard, coarse sea salt, ground cloves, and celery seed.
Boil the mixture for one hour.
Cook the sauce lightly while hot.
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.
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Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,169 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked 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
- Tomatoes
- Form the bulk and liquid base, giving the sauce its body and fresh tomato flavor.
- Onions
- Add savory sweetness and aroma, and soften into the sauce as it cooks.
- Green pepper
- Adds a fresh, slightly grassy bite that contrasts with the cooked tomatoes.
- Vinegar
- Provides sharp acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the tomatoes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that rounds out the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
- Ground mustard
- Contributes a pungent, tangy heat that deepens the sauce's sharpness.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture for one hour. A long, steady boil evaporates water and concentrates the sugars and acids, thickening the sauce and softening the vegetables. Too short a boil leaves the sauce thin and the flavors sharp and separate.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, vinegar, sugar, mustard, clove, celery):
- Capsicumfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, vinegar, sugar, mustard, clove, celery. 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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